WTO, WEF rattle India by Alibaba’s e-commerce link-up The what and howof eWTP
Retail giant’s portal to create virtual free trade zones
The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) have partnered with an e-commerce trade portal built by Jack Maled Alibaba to push discussions on the subject further.
The decision has not gone down well with India, which has consistently refused to discuss a proposed set of global rules on e-commerce. New Delhi has maintained the country’s policy space would shrink significantly and such rules would ultimately benefit the developed world.
News from Buenos Aires, where 164 member-nations of the WTO are taking part in the 11th ministerial conference, suggested early on Tuesday that the multilateral bodies have joined hands with Ma’s Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), even as India continued to resist discussions on the subject. Ma was present during the launch of the Enabling E-commerce initiative, aimed at providing an opportunity for stakeholders to develop a clearer understanding of how to enable MSME ecommerce around the globe that would be piloted by the eWTP, the WTO has said.
The eWTP is an online trading platform aimed at reducing trade barriers and making it easier for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to expand trading capabilities worldwide, according to Alibaba. Last month, the company opened its first physical hub outside China, in Malaysia, to offer SMEs the infrastructure for doing commerce with services encompassing e-commerce, logistics, cloud computing, mobile payment and talent training.
The move is being watched carefully by India, a senior member of the delegation in number of players, like small Argentina told Business traders, in the traditional market Standard. He added that pressure as behemoths stand the was building against India chance of gobbling them up.” from the country’s traditional If a conclusive agreement partners in the Least on e-commerce was not feasible, Developed Country grouping. developed nations would
“While India should accept at least aim to secure greater technology as it comes, we need commitments from all members to know which segments it will on reducing tariff costs on hurt the most,” trade expert and trade, a senior official from the JNU professor Biswajit Dhar WTO secretariat in Geneva told said. “A disruptive move like Business Standard on conditions this will see tech-driven commerce of displacing anonymity. a significant Under the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), businesses can create hubs for e-commerce and governments can create virtual free trade zones for small business. These ehubs would allow small businesses in one country to sell to consumers in another, with low or no import duties, speedy customs clearance, and better access to logistics. When connected, this would create a global network. However, the data and technology aspect of the system would be controlled by Alibaba, which created the system. This might pit the company against many governments. Currently, Alibaba has opened a physical hub outside China in Malaysia, with many more planned throughout South East Asia. Endorsements from the WTO and WEF is expected to allow more nations to cozy up to the idea. BS REPORTER