SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov attended Global Digital Trade Conference

On 6 November 2019, SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov attended the 2nd Global Digital Trade Conference, held as part of the 2nd China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

Participants in the event discussed the key issues of digital development and e-commerce at the national, regional and international levels, as well as ways to establish dialogue between state agencies and businesses in the region.

Speaking at the conference, the SCO Secretary-General noted that due to the globalisation of the economy, active development of internet technologies, the growing capacities of supercomputers, and the universal use of mobile devices, digital trade has begun to determine the pace of economic growth, as well as the competitiveness of goods and countries on the global stage.

Mr Norov added that digital trade had multiplied the volume, expansion and speed of trade, expanded access to markets and lowered the threshold, simplified the coordination of global price chains and reduced transaction fees, as well as facilitating the distribution of technology and maintaining contacts between businesses and customers all over the world.

The Secretary-General emphasised that digital trade helped create jobs, especially for women and young people. For instance, the Alibaba digital platform created 40 million jobs last year. In China, 55% of people working in digital trade are women.

With reference to the data provided by experts of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Mr Norov said that the global digital trade market grew by 13 percent in 2017, while its trade volume accounted for $29 trillion; 1.3 billion people — a quarter of the earth's population — made online purchases.

"The People's Republic of China, one of the SCO founders, maintains leading positions in business-to-consumer digital commerce. In this country, the volume of online trade in 2018 was 34 percent of the total trade volume. In the United Kingdom it was 18 percent, in the US 10 percent, in Japan 9 percent, in France 6 percent, and in India and Russia 4 percent," the SCO Secretary-General said.

Mr Norov pointed out that the aggregate GDP of SCO states accounted for over 22 percent of the global GDP, while the aggregated foreign trade was $6 trillion, or 12 percent of total global trade. This is a huge market for joint innovative projects in IT and digital trade.

"In this regard, participants in the meeting of the SCO Heads of Government Council, which took place on 2 November in Tashkent, adopted a programme of multilateral trade and economic cooperation of SCO member states for the period to 2035; among its key priorities is the development of digital trade," Mr Norov said.

He also noted that the relations of constructive partnership that the SCO member states share, allow for using the advantages provided by geographic proximity and

mutually complementary economies, and also stimulate the further active search for joint projects of cooperation in the development of digital trade. In this regard, it seems necessary to establish a programme of SCO cooperation on the development of digital trade, based on the achievements of SCO driving forces such as China, India and Russia.

At the same time, Vladimir Norov reminded the audience that while summing up the benefits of digital trade, one must not forget the risks associated with it. In 2013, according to UNCTAD, cyber criminals stole over $3.5 billion. In order to counteract this, one needs to introduce special laws in all areas and markets that are engaged in online trade. These laws must be aimed at combating cyber crime and ensuring confidentiality and consumer rights on the internet.

"Within the SCO, we are focusing on the development of cooperation in the area of providing international information security, counteracting cyber crime, and preventing the distribution of the ideas of terrorism, separatism and extremism through information and communication networks. The SCO also opposes the use of information and communication technologies to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries," he said.

In conclusion, the SCO Secretary-General reiterated that there are over 800 million young people aged between 15 and 24 living in the SCO space, and they are the most vulnerable to the risks and threats in the information space. In this context, he suggested that the member states join efforts to provide information security and put the development of IT on the right track to benefit the youth of the SCO and form a "healthy digital culture" in the SCO space.