Workshop seeks ways to promote digital economy in APEC members

An overview of the workshop. (Source: congthuong.vn)

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade has coordinated with the APEC Secretariat to organise a workshop on building APEC capacity in promoting the digital economy, which opened on October 21 via videoconference.

The two-day event is a chance for APEC member econommies to share experience in developing the digital economy and digital government in different aspects such as laws, policies, technology and infrastructure, institutions, and impacts on social strata.

Opening the seminar, Dang Hoang Hai, Director of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that the digital economy is playing an important role in promoting innovations as well as the competitiveness and growth of the economy. It has not only posed positive imapcts on the transformation of traditional business models and networks but also sped up the transfer of knowledge and transition of management and governance of the international market, he said.

Hai held that the digital economy has brought about great opportunities through the improvement of capacity and innovation, thus narrowing the development gaps and encouraging growth, especially in developing or underdeveloped economies.

The official cited a report by the Vietnam Economic Policy Research Institute which showed that Vietnam has seen limitations in awareness of the digital economy as well as high quality human resources in information technology.

According to the report, about 85 percent of Vietnamese businesses are standing outside the digital economy, and only 13 percent have justed started engaging in it, he said.

Hai noted that the uneven development among APEC member econommies may affect the growth of each economy and the common prosperity of the region as a whole.

Meanwhike, amid the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital economy has increased the resilience and recovery capability of the region and the world thanks to strong connectivity and the capacity to fix disruptions in supply chains due to social distancing measures, he said.

The offficial also underlined the need for APEC economies to adapt to and make full use of the digital economy to return to the "new normal" and boost sustainable and fair development.

Participants are expected to make recommendations for APEC to design activities and initiatives in the future to improve its members' capacity in building their own digital economy./.