SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov attended the 5th Global Cross-Border E-Commerce Conference held in Guangzhou on 19 November 2020.
In his opening remarks, the SCO Secretary-General pointed out the importance of holding the event in Guangzhou, one of the largest scientific, trade and industrial cities in China and the 2019 national leader in e-commerce.
When speaking about the role of the coronavirus pandemic in the global economy, Vladimir Norov noted that the crisis had accelerated digital transformation in nearly all socioeconomic sectors and boosted cross-border e-commerce. He added in this connection that a combination of the digital economy and cross-border e-commerce could become a basic way for the post-pandemic global economy to recover throughout the world.
The SCO Secretary-General updated the conference participants about the development of cooperation within the framework of the SCO, in particular, the initiative of President of China Xi Jinping on holding a China-SCO Digital Economy Forum in 2021 as a potential platform for innovative cooperation. Vladimir Norov said that this initiative could have a positive effect on the expansion of mutual trade in the SCO space.
He pointed out that the further development of multilateral cooperation in the area of cross-border e-commerce could be promoted by the drafting of a cooperation programme based on China's experience.
Other speakers at the conference included representatives of the governments of Guangzhou and the Guangdong Province, Vice Chairman of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges Zhang Dawei and Deputy Director-General of the WTO Yi Xiaozhun. The participants spoke about the huge importance of e-commerce for stimulating global trade and updated the conference on the role of China and the Guangdong Province in developing this sector, including in the context of such projects as the Belt and Road Initiative and cooperation with international organisations.