Ecommerce

It's time for public-private partnerships to drive digital trade in the most vulnerable nations
Unlike in 2013, PPPs are today widely embraced as a vehicle to promote digital trade. Now, they need to be used in places where they have been scarcer, such as the LDCs.

Taking tourism exports online
The Ministry of Tourism hosts the handicraft and Souvenir Development project, which is supported by the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF); with among other objectives being improving quality, standards and marketing tourism exports such as souvenirs to boost foreign exchange.

Unlocking e-commerce in LDCs: Governments hold the key
The EIF recognises that our contribution to creating a thriving e-commerce ecosystem in LDCs is part and parcel of a bigger effort bringing together the expertise and skills of many others. While some are working together with the private sector, including small businesses, others are working with governments. While some invest in building digital infrastructure, others impart knowledge to build digital skills and yet others provide support to prepare and implement e-commerce policies.

Five things to know about Least Developed Countries and ecommerce
New tech uses present challenges – and a host of opportunities – for the world’s poorest countries

Cambodia shows LDCs how to get into ecommerce
LDCs have traditionally relied on high-cost, low-impact means of showing off their goods by, for example, hiring booths at trade shows and expos. Ecommerce platforms allow them to exponentially grow the number of products they can show off to potential customers, simplify the selling process, reduce transactional costs, increase trade revenues, and boost economic growth.

Women-run businesses getting a boost in Rwanda and Zambia
Small businesses are receiving support to access much-needed finance

In Tanzania, tackling markets to bolster small business
New project focusing on selected value chains from seaweed to honey in Tanzania.

In Cambodia, going with the (rice) grain
Resilience is necessary in the rice trade, developing it requires many About 80% of Cambodians are rural farmers, and rice is the country’s main crop. But, until the last decade or so, the sector had not been living up to its potential.

A year of digitalization for women entrepreneurs?
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the trade ecosystem for women in the developing world

UNCTAD LDC Report: putting productive capacities first
Expanding and diversifying productive capacities will better position least developed countries (LDCs) to tap the financing and e-trade opportunities that will underpin their Covid-19 recovery. This was a recurrent theme in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Least Developed Countries Report 2020, which cautioned however that the international community must first rally with resources, policy space and better international support measures.

Can digital platforms help mitigate agricultural losses from COVID in Uganda?
The government of Uganda put containment measures in place to tackle COVID-19. These included quarantines; bans on public gatherings and weekly markets; closures of schools, borders and nonessential retail outlets; and the suspension of international flights.

Supporting an evolving ecommerce ecosystem in Myanmar
Myanmar was already moving to get its businesses online. With COVID-19, they were able to speed things up.

Ugandan ecommerce platforms power recovery from COVID-19 crisis
Partnerships with development agencies and government efforts to boost the digital economy are helping soften the economic blow of the pandemic.

Blockchain and LDC trade during COVID-19
The macroeconomic context for developing country trade in the time of COVID-19

Making it faster and easier for South Asian women to take businesses online
Recently launched ecommerce training program and portal will help hundreds of women entrepreneurs in South Asian LDCs become part of regional and global supply chains.

Cambodia’s digital startups help blunt economic impact of COVID-19
An uptick in business, especially in the delivery of food and essential items, is enhancing resilience in the wake of the crisis.

Kiribati sets sights on overcoming hurdles to ecommerce
Digital solutions implemented to combat the spread of COVID-19 give fresh impetus to efforts to harness the development gains of ICT and ecommerce.

Tanzania, Malawi prepare to reap benefits of digital economy
UNCTAD has assessed the state of play in the two countries and identified policy actions required to harness ecommerce for development.

How women in developing countries can harness ecommerce
Originally published in World Economic Forum Agenda on 24 April 2020

Senegal's ecommerce sector helps country cope with COVID-19
Trade ministry fast-tracks measures to ease access to essential goods and services during the pandemic.

Industry 4.0: What next for least developed countries?
The possibility of reconfiguring manufacturing processes through new digital technologies and data provides opportunities to reboot industrial development in least developed countries.

Least developed countries can become authors of their technological revolution
Originally published in OECD-Development Matters on 5 February 2020

A window of opportunity for Africa: Agricultural innovation, integration and entrepreneurial ecosystems
Agriculture 4.0, fuelled by innovation and technology, is driving more productive, efficient and sustainable food systems.

Tuvalu lays ecommerce groundwork to spur development
UNCTAD's assessment identifies available opportunities and barriers to overcome for e-commerce to flourish in the country.

The partnership imperative for African innovation in the fourth industrial revolution
The entrepreneurial uptake of computer technology and the entrenchment of digitisation have made Africa a demonstrable source of intellectual power in the digital sphere.

Digitally transforming Sudan’s economy
Enabling growth via ecommerce, trade facilitation and geographical indications

EIF covering environment, 4IR and global trade climate in new analyses
The Enhanced Integrated Framework’s Trade for Development News is launching a new series of articles focusing on three major trade conversations happening today.

Globalisation, robotics and pathways to development
A conversation with Richard Baldwin

How can developing countries seize returns from the fourth industrial revolution?
Without action, one out of every four people living in LDCs will be offline due to the lack of digital skills

6 ways the least developed countries can participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Originally published by World Economic Forum Agenda on 13 August 2019

Ramkrishna Adhikari: With a young, tech-savvy population, Nepal forging ahead on its ecommerce path
Nepal’s Under Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies talks all things trade – online

Lesotho ready to channel its growth to go digital
New report on Lesotho shows how the small, mountainous nation could unlock its digital market to diversify its economy.

A strategy to leverage the digital transformation for development
The digital transformation provides developing economies new opportunities to leapfrog industrial age infrastructure, to draw on the vast knowledge spillovers from the internet, to take advantage of new markets offered by digital platforms and to exploit production possibilities enabled by digital technologies.

H.E. Dr. François Xavier Ngarambe: Aiming for ecommerce success in Rwanda
Following UNCTAD’s Ecommerce Week in April 2019 and on the cusp of a new partnership with EIF to boost ecommerce, Rwanda’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva discusses the state of play for online trade in the country

Agnes Hugot: On aiming for a win-win-win for trade
Virtual connections, transparency and financing through one platform can make for just the right combination to support MSMEs

Kemvichet Long: On helping Cambodia’s businesses enter the global ecommerce marketplace
During UNCTAD’s Ecommerce Week in April 2019, Deputy Director General for International Trade at the Cambodia Ministry of Commerce talks all things e-trade

Small market, big ambition
Bhutan’s potato ‘stock market’ goes online

GTPA partners with the EIF Programme as part of Africa eCommerce Week
The Global Trade Professionals Alliance (GTPA) is delighted to partner with the EIF Programme on a session focussed on building skills for the digital economy through education, interaction & advocacy as part of Africa e

Making ecommerce connections in the Pacific
Geographical barriers, including isolation from main markets, have resulted in issues for Vanuatu to access international networks and grow its businesses

EIF address at the launch event of the Vanuatu National Single Window Project and the eTrade Readiness Assessment
Launching of these specific initiatives demonstrates the progressive vision of Vanuatu to stimulate the economy and leverage opportunities through international trade for delivering growth and development

Taking trade online
What do a mountainous landlocked country, a post-war African nation, and three small island developing states have in common?

Solomon Islands and Vanuatu gear up for e-commerce
Consumers and businesses in two remote Pacific island nations can look forward to a better connected and more prosperous future, according to assessments made by UNCTAD of their readiness to benefit from electronic commerce

Infographic: Vanuatu eTrade Readiness Assessment
The Government has shown a strong interest in adopting economic and social policies that can facilitate the development of the Internet economy, of which e-commerce is one segment. Unlocking its potential will also reduce distance to markets, reduce “sealockedness” and enable Vanuatu to leapfrog certain barriers associated with physical trade

Infographic: Solomon Islands eTrade Readiness Assessment
The current low use of ecommerce in Solomon Islands belies significant potential for the sector to grow swiftly and make economic and socioeconomic contributions to the country

An Internet of Rules for all: Can "Trade Policy 3.0" foster inclusive trade?
The distinctive character of trade policy 3.0 is that, in addition to “writing down the rules” of trade in natural language (trade policy 1.0) and use of “single window systems” that replicate paper-based delivery in the digital realm (trade policy 2.0), countries are able to publish computational rules to the Internet in a standard way

Five things to know about least developed countries (LDCs) and ecommerce
New tech uses present challenges – and a host of opportunities – for the world’s poorest countries.

Taking action for digital business in Least Developed Countries
Week of discussions fleshes out research results and next steps for electronic trade in the world's poorest countries

Talking ecommerce with Alioune Sarr, Senegal’s Trade Minister
The challenges with which African countries are faced in the context of ecommerce – and which hinder its development – are multifaceted

Ecommerce in the Pacific: Challenges and opportunities
Ms. Mere Falemaka, Permanent Representative of the Pacific Islands Forum to the WTO in Geneva, shared with us some precious insights about the specificities of the region.

Samoa takes important steps to becoming ecommerce ready
The Pacific Island nation of Samoa has made considerable progress in recent years in getting businesses and consumers online but still faces challenges before being fully ready to benefit from e-commerce, an UNCTAD and EIF assessment of the country says.

Digital can lift the developing world out of poverty. Here's how
Originally published on 10 July 2017 in the World Economic Forum Agenda