Press Release
ECE/TRADE/00/11
Geneva, 19 June 2000
FORUM ON « E-COMMERCE FOR TRANSITION ECONOMIES
IN THE DIGITAL AGE »
"Reaching out to enable the many"
19 and 20 June 2000, Palais des Nations, Geneva
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE), in
collaboration with the European Electronic Messaging Association (EEMA), is holding a
two-day Forum on E-Commerce for Transition Economies in the Digital Age on 19 and 20 June
2000 in Geneva. Taking part in the Forum are over 400 participants, including key
international business leaders, high-ranking representatives from governments, and
numerous international organizations.
The principal objectives of the Forum are: (1) to promote the
development of the Internet and electronic commerce in transition economies; (2) to review
the Internet infrastructure and prospects for new business services in the countries of
central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States; (3) to consider the
potential of electronic commerce for small and medium-sized enterprises; and (4) to
identify the needs for capacity building.
In her opening statement, the Executive Secretary of the UN/ECE,
Danuta Hübner, said: "In the UN/ECE, we are convinced that no Government can be
complacent at the level of development and the impact of new technologies. One of our
principal goals is to ensure that all our member States have the know-how to benefit from
electronic commerce".
New information and communication technologies are transforming the
economic landscape, bringing with them unparalleled opportunity and change. The UN/ECE is
committed to assisting the transition economies of central and eastern Europe and the
Commonwealth of Independent States in exploiting the immense potential of the Information
Age.
The Forum is expected also to encourage UN/ECE’s Committee for
Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development to review all aspects of its work programme
(Enterprise Development, Trade Facilitation, and Trade and Investment Promotion) to see
where further support for information and communication technologies in transition
economies could be incorporated.
In particular, the Forum will call attention to the importance of open,
effective, commercially secure, business and administrative processes through promoting
and implementing Internet World Wide Web technology and UN/CEFACT* recommendations
on trade facilitation and electronic business. Further, it is expected that the Forum will
support the establishment of a team on Internet enterprise development to promote the free
flow of information and exploit the business potential of new technologies.
E-business has created a paradox. Whereas traders and enterprises can
through the Internet find buyers and sellers, and customers and producers are closer than
ever, at the end of their fingertips, in the real world, where goods have physically to be
moved, the infrastructure is often years behind the times. As a result of antiquated
procedures, goods can be held up for weeks at customs or be sitting in a port terminal or
buried under mountains of paper work, or even lost.
In reaching out, the Forum seeks to mobilize the will and imagination
of key decision makers and officials from all the UN/ECE region – from Vancouver to
Vladivostok - to foster infrastructure development and promote the Internet, and stimulate
improved business conditions in the Digital Age.
The Forum will examine such practical questions as: What is the
realistic potential and time-scale of these new prospects? What can transition economies
do to participate in this progress? What can Governments in the region do to stimulate
electronic commerce, to encourage start-up ventures, assist the emergence of profitable
business operations and create long-term employment opportunities?
* UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business
* * *
For further information please contact:
Mr. Daewon CHOI, Forum Coordinator
Enterprise Development Section, Trade Division
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations, Room 427
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: (+41 22) 917 2474
Fax: (+41 22) 917 0178
E-mail: [email protected]
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