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Friday, March 29, 2024

Welcoming ILO into Commonwealth for inclusive e-commerce

It is interesting to note that COVID-19 has irreversibly changed the way we do things, showing the critical role of digital solutions that have kept businesses running and helped reduce the spread of the virus.

However, many developing countries are still struggling to make use of e-commerce and other digital tools. At the same time, the momentum to ensure the digital economy becomes more inclusive is growing, championed by the eTrade for all initiative, which has just welcomed the Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Labour Organization (ILO) to its fold, increasing its membership to 32 organizations.

The partnership, marking its fourth anniversary this month, has become even more important in light of the pandemic as countries seek to foster new strategies for economic recovery. E-commerce is expected to be at the vanguard of the recovery efforts as the world moves farther online. “The Commonwealth Secretariat is delighted to join the eTrade for all community,” said Patricia Scotland, Chief of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The ILO is actively engaged in the debates on the digital economy and identifying knowledge gaps related to digital skills, working conditions and social protection. “We’re excited to join the partnership and look forward to making an important contribution to it,” said Vic van Vuuren, Director of Enterprises at the ILO.

Mukhisa Kituyi, UNCTAD Secretary-General commended the partnership for its strong commitment to ensuring no one is left behind in the digital economy despite the vagaries of the global landscape. “I’m delighted to witness the increasing number of eTrade for all partners in all of the initiative’s growing activities,” Dr Kituyi said. “To ensure no one is left behind in the digital economy, the international community needs to work more, not less, together,” he added.

The first virtual eWeek 2020, held in April, to which many eTrade for all partners contributed, illustrated that, even with various lockdown measures and travel restrictions, it’s possible to hold global, multistakeholder development dialogues.

The event comprised a set of 14 online webinars and high-level policy dialogues that discussed, among others, how to leverage the contribution of e-commerce to mitigate the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The eTrade for all initiative has evolved into a solid, trusted, neutral and useful source of information and a potent catalyst for partnerships across the digital economy’s global landscape. Through shared purpose, the partners have collaborated to connect the dots for gainful benefit from e-commerce and the digital economy in developing countries. They have also generated widely acknowledged and critical programs, such as the eTrade readiness assessments and the eTrade for Women initiative.

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