HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam has proposed an initiative on building an e-commerce facilitation framework within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), as it is an important content in the 2017 APEC’s agenda.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s E-commerce and Information Technology Agency, trans-border e-commerce is seen as the fastest growing sector in world commerce. Over the past two decades, the global e-commerce value has been estimated at US$1.92 trillion.

The Asia-Pacific region has recorded the largest transaction volume in the world, followed by West Europe and North America. E-commerce revenue from the business-to-consumer (B2C) model was $144 billion in Asia-Pacific last year, accounting for approximately 35.9 per cent of the global B2C value. These figures are expected to rise to $467 billion and 47.9 per cent, respectively, by 2020.

The APEC leaders have realised the significance of e-commerce in increasing the competitiveness of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises; in promoting sustainable growth; and in accelerating extensive and intensive regional economic connectivity.

Against this backdrop, Việt Nam has proposed an initiative on the building of an e-commerce facilitation framework, which focuses on five pillars.

The pillars include: finalising and harmonising legal frameworks on e-commerce in APEC member economies; strengthening capacity-building to enable APEC economies to support micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises to join the trans-border e-commerce market in the region and around the world; promoting cross-border protection of individual data via the implementation of the APEC’s current programmes; facilitating non-paper trade in the region; and dealing with newly arising issues in cross-border e-commerce.

The e-commerce facilitation framework within the APEC is one of the highlights of the 2017 APEC. It is expected to contribute to facilitating trade and investment and become a driving force for the region’s economic development.

The APEC was established with the goal of promoting sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. The 2017 APEC Year is a pivotal event celebrating 20 years of Việt Nam’s APEC membership. — VNS