Digital economy can boost access to trade – UNCTAD

Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Mukhisa Kituyi, has said the current digital revolution offers phenomenal opportunities to expand access to trade to small businesses and more individuals, including women and youths. Kituyi stated this on Wednesday on the sidelines of the ITU Telecom World 2016, taking place this week from November 14-17 in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Kituyi said although global growth has been sluggish in the past few years, the value of online trade accelerated from $16 trillion to $22 trillion between 2013 and 2015. He said global trade is undergoing a revolution, driven by information and communications technology (ICT).
  
"The Internet connects goods and markets, reduces overheads, and cuts out middlemen too, so we see it as a great enabler to unbottle a lot of the energies that exist in different economic sectors," Kituyi noted in a statement released by UNCTAD, 
  
 The UNCTAD Secretary-General said much of the new jobs in the service industry are driven by ICT, with increasing participation of women and young women in the ICT-driven service industry. He said unlike traditional jobs, ICT-based jobs are gender-blind in remuneration. By boosting access to economic opportunities, Kituyi said ICT will play a major role to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

“ICT has a phenomenal ability to engage different pockets of production in the global economy and raise productivity," Kituyi added, while cautioning that there are also the risks of fostering inequalities unless infrastructure issues are addressed.

For the digital revolution to fulfill its promise of poverty reduction, national governments and others will have to make more efforts in providing infrastructure, Kituyi said. Fixed broadband penetration is still 30 times higher in Europe than in Africa; while mobile broadband penetration is almost five times higher. In most developing countries, average broadband speeds are lower, while costs are high.

In July, UNCTAD – the principal organ of the United Nations dealing with trade, investment, and development issues – launched the "eTrade for All" initiative aimed at improving the ability of developing countries, and particularly least developed countries, to leverage e-commerce and drive economic growth, inclusive trade and job-creation. - See more at: http://www.financialnigeria.com/digital-economy-can-boost-access-to-opportunities-trade-unctad-news-966.html#sthash.fhHh2q67.dpuf