Wang Yiming: Digital trade is developing rapidly, but it lacks uniform rules

Beijing News Shell Financial News (reporter Chen Weicheng) On September 3, at the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services From the perspective of multinational companies, Wang Yiming, vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges and former deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said that with the rapid development of digital trade, promoting digital trade facilitation has become the consensus of more and more countries, but digital trade as a new form of trade still lacks unified rules.

Wang Yiming said that the current development of global trade in services and the digital technology revolution have formed a historic intersection, promoting the rapid development of digital trade and becoming a new engine for the growth of service trade. Affected by the impact of the epidemic in 2020, global trade in services has been greatly impacted, but the development momentum of digital trade is still strong, and the proportion of global trade in services has further increased, showing strong resilience to development.

"With the rapid development of digital trade, promoting digital trade facilitation has become the consensus of more and more countries. After the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement came into effect in 2017, trade facilitation of goods has formed common trade rules around the world, but digital trade, as a new form of trade, still lacks unified rules. Wang Yiming introduced.

He believes that digital trade facilitation needs to simplify and harmonize the systems and procedures of digital trade. In policy practice, digital trade facilitation measures are mainly embodied in simplifying trade procedures and procedures, harmonizing relevant laws and regulations, and promoting infrastructure improvement and standardization to improve the efficiency of digital trade and reduce transaction costs.

Wang Yiming mentioned that at present, in the case of multilateral negotiations being blocked, countries often promote digital trade facilitation through regional trade agreements, and the main topics involve electronic certification and electronic signatures of tariffs on digital products, paperless trade, domestic electronic transaction regulatory framework, and digital trade facilitation of Internet cost sharing, which is conducive to promoting the transformation of traditional trade and the high-quality development of service trade, is conducive to promoting the docking of digital infrastructure construction and standards, and is conducive to releasing potential digital economy development.

"Overall, it is easier for countries to reach consensus in the area of digital trade facilitation than on sensitive issues of data localization. In recent years, China's digital trade has developed rapidly and it has become a global digital trade power. China is also an active participant and practitioner in the formulation of international rules for digital trade facilitation. Wang Yiming said.

Wang Yiming mentioned that it should be seen that there is still a considerable gap between the scale of China's digital trade and developed countries in Europe and the United States. The openness of digital trade also needs to be improved, and the independent innovation ability of core technologies also needs to be improved. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China will be guided by the high-quality development of digital trade, continuously promote technological innovation, model innovation and institutional innovation in digital trade, expand the opening up of the field of digital trade, build an open economic system that adapts to the development of digital trade, actively participate in the formulation of global digital trade rules, and promote China's gradual progress from a digital trade power to a digital trade power.

Beijing News shell financial reporter Chen Weicheng Editor Song Yuting Proofread by Liu Baoqing