WELLINGTON, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- As digital inclusion in economic recovery was high on the agenda of the 2021 APEC Economic Leaders' Week, New Zealand experts are looking forward to China's role in the digital future.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade and foreign ministers pledged on Tuesday in a joint statement to support each other in pursuing innovation and a digitally-enabled recovery against COVID-19.

"It is important to bridge the digital divide to ensure that the benefits of digital transformation flow to all our people and businesses and that no one is left behind," the statement said.

Stephen Jacobi, executive director of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), told Xinhua that China's application for the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) membership is positive.

China filed a formal application to join the DEPA via New Zealand, the DEPA depositary, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Monday, a step taken to further regional digital cooperation.

"It is positive that China indicates it wants to be part of the development of rules and standards for the digital economy, which is increasing in importance," said Jacobi in a recent virtual interview.

Alice Hang, chair of Oceania Digital Currency Finance Transaction Group and chair of Rewi Alley Trust Incorporated, believed that China's application for the DEPA membership is another crucial step of China's opening up.

"China applied for the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) membership in September and the DEPA this month. China's participation in these multilateral trade arrangements will facilitate global free trade and international cooperation," said Hang.

China has become a global leader to participate in and benefit from the digital economy. Digital giant companies in China such as Tencent and Alibaba played an important role, said she.

Hang is looking forward to seeing China's role in promoting the digital economy in the post-COVID-19 regional and global cooperation.

"China's accession to DEPA will promote cooperation and win-win development in the digital economy in the Asia-Pacific region. It is expected that our China counterparts will contribute Chinese solutions to developing the global digital economy and cyberspace governance," she said.

DEPA is an "open plurilateral agreement" which welcomes new members that can meet its standards to join. It also includes innovative commitments to cooperate on evolving issues such as emerging technologies and digital inclusion, according to the New Zealand's Ministry of Trade and Export Growth.

"DEPA is in many respects still a work in progress. It represents an attempt by the parties to think about the future of the digital economy and to commit to working together to develop some alignment about the way key issues can be handled," said Jacobi.

Jacobi said that while digital cooperation is already very advanced in APEC, there are differences in approaches to issues like cross-border data flows, data localisation and cyber security.

"DEPA is a very innovative instrument. To the extent that it can encourage the development of digital processes and technologies to facilitate trade and thereby reduce the costs of doing business. Paperless trading, e-commerce, digitally-enabled supply chains, e-payments are all of interest here. It will lead to new opportunities for New Zealand and other economies," he added.

The ABAC has called on APEC economies to prioritise digital capacity building in its Report to Economic Leaders this year.

"We call on APEC economies to prioritise digital capacity building, especially for micro, small and medium enterprises; structural reforms including universal access to digital infrastructure; and the seamless interoperability of digital systems and tools across the region," it said.

DEPA is a new initiative by New Zealand, Chile and Singapore. It was signed in an entirely online virtual signing ceremony by the three countries in June 2020, and has entered into force for New Zealand and Singapore in January 2021.

According to the New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade Department, DEPA intends to complement the World Trade Organization negotiations on e-commerce and build on the digital economy work underway within APEC, the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD), and other international forums. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)