Text – Ehsanullah Mamundzai
This course offers invaluable insights and comprehensive knowledge crucial for understanding the complex interplay between emerging technologies and global trade. Especially valuable for participants from LDCs, this course acts as a strategic empowerment tool, enhancing their ability to actively engage with and benefit from the digital economy. From my perspective as a development sector practitioner, the course was extraordinarily beneficial, offering key critical frameworks and insights for effectively engaging with and steering the digital economy towards sustainable development.
– Mr Ehsanullah Mamundzai, CEO, Organization for Development Innovations & Research (ODIR), Afghanistan
The course’s focus on promoting trust and openness in digital commerce offered invaluable insights for refining strategies, ensuring regulatory compliance, and cultivating a secure environment for digital trade activities. This learning experience has significantly enhanced my capabilities and will undoubtedly contribute to more informed and effective decision-making in matters related to digital trade.
The course is extremely useful for negotiators involved in e-commerce discussions at the WTO, as well as for policymakers and advisors. At the end of the course, one clearly understands that e-commerce rules should not be seen through the lens of shopping electronically, but rather as a trade arm of the emerging digital economy which is underpinned by new technologies such as cloud computing, big data, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, robotics, and 3-D printing.
The course is an excellent opportunity for Geneva-based diplomats to learn about e-commerce from scratch. For me as a diplomat covering e-commerce issues at the WTO, the course came just in time since more active steps are being launched within the WTO plurilateral format. The knowledge obtained during the course helped me fill the basic knowledge gap and be able to communicate on the same track with other more advanced colleagues.
The course addressed a wide gamut of issues including data localisation, net neutrality, and cybersecurity, all topics which are of great importance as the world evolves into the fast-paced and technology-driven Fourth Industrial Revolution. The lecturers were very knowledgeable, and the rich exchanges among participants from diverse technical and professional backgrounds made this course a wonderful learning experience.
The course provided a very helpful overview of the history, and state of play of digital commerce debates. I found the course reading material and the peer learning methodologies that were used extremely enriching. What I found most interesting and helpful were the modules on the WTO, the introductory module on the different business models in the age of the internet, and the discussion threads on data governance frameworks.
The course has been an excellent source of information and up-to-date knowledge on the various paradigms of digital commerce. For developing countries like Pakistan, such capacity building opportunities are mandatory to stay updated with the latest developments and innovations in the digital world.
The course provided an interdisciplinary approach relevant to the current plurilateral negotiations taking place at the WTO on trade-related issues relating to e-commerce, and the tools to better understand the processes taking place in Geneva on digital economy issues. The course has given me the opportunity to share Paraguay’s national experience and learn from other countries that are harnessing the power of the digital revolution for their development.
