Background

The promises of TradeTech – the set of technologies that enables global trade to become more efficient, inclusive and sustainable – are numerous, from trade facilitation to efficiency gains and reduced costs, to greater transparency and resilience of supply chains.

Although the technological innovation exists, the major challenge to the global adoption of TradeTech will be building international policy coordination. Here, trade agreements can play a key role. Trade agreements are generally technology neutral, and many existing trade rules apply to digital trade.

Yet, developing additional rules will be needed to provide further legal certainty as to how they apply in the digital field.

Since 2010, regional trade agreements (RTAs) have increasingly integrated e-commerce and digital trade provisions, while digital-only trade agreements have recently emerged. Furthermore, more than 85 WTO members also participate in the Joint Initiative on E-commerce.

Despite these ongoing efforts, there remain many unseized opportunities and unexplored policies.

This webinar will present the key findings of the report and be an opportunity to hear from experts on how trade agreements can be leveraged to support trade digitalization and wide-scale adoption of TradeTech.

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Programme