WASHINGTON – September 25, 2020 – The Global Data Alliance welcomes the Trade and Investment Ministerial Communique issued this week by G20 economies including Brazil, the EU, India, Indonesia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. The communique underscores the importance for job creation, economic development, and poverty reduction of digital connectivity and cross-border access to technology and information, as well as the “critical role that the digital economy and electronic commerce have played in helping sustain economic activity through the COVID-19 pandemic.” The Global Data Alliance also takes note of the G20’s Policy Guidelines on Boosting MSME’s International Competitiveness, which outline a strategy for overcoming challenges faced by Micro-, Small-, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in “internationalization, including in the areas of access to information, technology, digital, and … connecting to supply chains.”

“The G20’s efforts to build MSME competitiveness are very positive,” said Joseph Whitlock, Director, Policy at BSA | The Software Alliance. “Cross-border access to cloud-enabled software tools and financing are important to improving MSME capacity to connect to international markets. In this way, cross-border data transfers can foster economic development, grow access to finance, and reduce the digital divide.”

The G20’s Guidelines for MSME Competitiveness contain two major pillars:

1. “Boost MSMEs’ capacity to connect” through improved digital infrastructure, access to information, and linkages with international firms; and
2. “Boost MSMEs’ capacity to change and adjust” through access to finance and through technology and innovation policies that help MSMEs “seize opportunities in new technologies for increasing competitiveness in the global market.”

Policies that safeguard the ability to access technologies and transfer data across borders are key to boosting these MSME capacities, keeping markets open, and supporting the recovery of international trade and investment called for by the G20.

About the Global Data Alliance

The Global Data Alliance (globaldataalliance.org) is a cross-industry coalition of companies that are committed to high standards of data responsibility and that rely on the ability to transfer data around the world to innovate and create jobs. The Alliance supports policies that help instill trust in the digital economy while safeguarding the ability to transfer data across borders and refraining from imposing data localization requirements that restrict trade.

Alliance members include BSA members and American Express, Amgen, AT&T, Citi, ITB360, LEGO, Mastercard, Medtronic, Panasonic, Pfizer, Roche, United Airlines, Verizon, VISA, and WD-40 Company. These companies are headquartered across the globe and are active in the advanced manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, consumer goods, electronics, energy, financial services, health, supply chain, and telecommunications sectors, among others. BSA | The Software Alliance administers the Global Data Alliance.