Image used for representation only
Financially stable countries like Qatar whose economy stands resilient contributing to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) is an astute example and other states must follow their path boosting e-commerce activities, said officials in a session during the fifth United Nations (UN) conference for LDC hosted at the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC).
The event was attended by H E Seedy Keita, The Gambia’s Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, International Trade Centre (ITC), Torbjorn Fredriksson, Head of E-commerce and Digital Economy Branch Division on Technology and Logistics, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Cosmas Zavazava, Director of Telecommunication Development Bureau, The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Nawshin Khair, Managing Director, Aranya Crafts Ltd., Tadhim Uwizeye, Founder and CEO, Olado, and moderated by James Howe, Head of Digital Markets, ITC.
As digital trade and e-commerce plays a vital part in setting up a mission in the ‘Doha Programme of Action’, the session witnessed the outlook of the e-commerce sector in general in the LDCs and how they can be revitalised for economic transformation.
During the event, H E Seedy Keita, The Gambia’s Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs outlined his country’s efforts being made to implement a stronger economy through online trade activities and how The Gambia is slowly developing.
He said: “Currently we are in the advanced stage of finalising the E-commerce strategy, which has been developed by the Ministry of Trade and this calls for the opportunity in the digitalisation sector.”
The Finance Minister also mentioned the drawbacks that the country faces including the lack of a national payment method affecting e-commerce transactions.
He said that, however, digitisation methods have enabled the country to foster better economic growth in recent years.
“This Digital platform was launched in May and operations commenced in July last year and since the system has stabilised we have seen revenue collection move from $800m a month to $1.2bn currently,” he added.
Commenting on the background of e-commerce sectors in the LDCs and what possible ways can be implemented to further operate its activities, Torbjorn Fredriksson said that there is a colossal difference between the developed countries and least developed countries when it comes to online business. In developed countries when the activities are operated on an average of over 60 percent, LDCs have just about 5 percent. He said that “This is an acute challenge when it comes to this kind of technology and e-commerce is only one way of doing it.”
Explicating the essential requirements and reasons for the lack of online entrepreneurship in many countries, Cosmas Zavaza said that “I think the international community, in general, do a lot of work in terms of making sure that there is some kind of progress so we have about 10 fold penetration in terms of internet connectivity But they are winners and losers. The winners we have established a correlation between LDCs that are graduating into those that are. However, African countries are lagging.” Highlighting some of the common reasons for the limited facilities, Zavaza said that, poor infrastructure, affordability, and digital skills are some of the primary causes behind it and called for wealthy nations to contribute to the LDCs.
The event also witnessed two entrepreneurs who are successfully thriving forward with their projects amidst coming from development-affected countries.
Nawshin from Bangladesh and Tadhim from Rwanda presented their businesses and how they are contributing to their respective country’s economies.
