Hong Kong Industrialist - Oct 2020

I n recent years, digital trade has become more and more common and various countries have promoted cross-border digital trade to explore more opportunities. For example, in August 2020 the Governments of Australia and Singapore formally signed “Australia- Singapore Digital Economy Agreement” (DEA), and will adopt specific measures to facilitate digital trade between the two countries, such as adopting internationally- recognised standards for the data exchange systems, supporting data innovation through collaborating on data-sharing projects between two places, and promoting the development of artificial intelligence through “government-industry-academia-research” collaboration. Besides, both Australian and Singaporean Governments hope DEA will become the blueprint for similar agreements in the region, as well as play a leading role in the promotion of e-commerce at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. We believe DEA is of great significance and hope the HKSAR Government will not only participate in WTO’s meeting related to e-commerce, but also try to sign memorandums of understanding with other economies to promote cross-border digital trade to consolidate advantages of Hong Kong in this area. 近 年數碼貿易日趨普及，各地透過推動跨境數碼貿易以發掘更多機遇。例如在2020年8月，澳洲與新 加坡政府正式簽署《澳洲─新加坡數碼貿易協定》，透過多個具體措施以促進兩地數碼貿易，例如 根據國際標準建立兩地的資料交換系統、透過兩地共享資料的計劃支持數據創新、透過「官產學研」協 作推動人工智能發展等。此外，兩地政府期望該協定不但能成為區內類似協定的藍本，更在世界貿易組織 （世貿）與亞太經濟合作組織推動電子商貿的事宜上發揮帶頭作用。澳洲與新加坡均為亞太地區上重要 經濟體，我們認為有關情況需予重視，並期望特區政府除參與有關電子商貿的世貿會議外，亦嘗試與其 他經濟體簽訂合作備忘錄以推動跨境數碼貿易，鞏固香港相關優勢。 DEPUTY CHAIRMEN’S VIEWS 宏勢微觀 查毅超博士 Dr Sunny Chai Promoting Cross-Border Digital Trade 推動跨境數碼貿易 8 | 10-12/2020