MAY 08, 2020 | GLOBAL
Pandemic Highlighting the Importance of Digital Trade, Could Spur WTO Talks
Inside US Trade, May 8, 2020
By Hannah Monicken
As the pandemic pushes the world online in an effort to slow the virus’ spread, countries – and companies – are reinforcing their commitment to digital trade, and that’s spurred those in Geneva and those watching from the outside to weigh the changes of post-pandemic momentum in the plurilateral talks on electronic commerce at the World Trade Organization.
How global trade will be different in a post-COVID world can’t be fully known today, analysts told Inside US Trade, but they added that the pandemic has accelerated a digitization trend – and firmly established digital trade as a defining issue.
The pandemic has “sped up, increased, enhanced the need for digitization,” Christine Bliss, president of the Coalition of Services Institutes, said. And this, in turn, has “underscored the importance” of cross-border data flows, Joseph Whitlock, director of policy for BSA | The Software Alliance, told Inside US Trade this week.
Supply chains are also important in digital trade, Whitlock said. Information and communication technology supply chains must be operational so that countries can source the equipment needed for remote work, online shopping and securing digital infrastructure.
Original Posting: https://insidetrade.com/share/168784
BSA 소개
소프트웨어 연합(BSA | The Software Alliance, 이하 BSA)(www.bsa.org)은 각국 정부를 대상으로 세계 시장에서 전 세계 소프트웨어 업계를 대변하고 옹호하는 선도적 연합체입니다. 세계의 가장 혁신적 기업들이 회원사로 참여하며 경제에 활기를 불어 넣고 현대의 생활을 향상시키는 소프트웨어 솔루션을 만들어 내고 있습니다.
워싱턴 DC에 본부를 두고, 30개국이 넘는 국가들에서 운영되는 BSA는, 합법적 소프트웨어 사용을 증진시키고 기술 혁신을 촉진하며 디지털 경제의 성장을 추진하는 공공 정책을 지지하는 준법 프로그램들을 선도합니다.