$22trn e-commerce opportunities beckon on 138 developing countries

ITRealms:

There is a $22 trillion electronic commerce (e-Commerce) opportunities for over 138 developing countries including Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) made this disclosure Monday at the launch of a new e-commerce initiative ahead of UNCTAD 14, according to its Secretary-General, Mukhisa Kituyi.

“A huge divide is opening between countries that are exploiting those opportunities and those that are not,” Kituyi said.

As said by UNCTAD, developing countries should grasp the rapidly growing opportunity of electronic commerce – e-commerce – worth around $22.1 trillion in 2015, up 38 per cent from 2013, or risk falling quickly behind.

The new initiative, called “eTrade for All”, brings international organizations, donors and businesses under one umbrella, easing developing country access to cutting-edge technical assistance and giving donors more options for funding.

By providing new opportunities and new markets, online commerce, UNCTAD said, could help generate economic opportunities, including jobs. But while more than 70 per cent of people are shopping online in Denmark, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, the story is different in most developing countries. In Bangladesh, Ghana and Indonesia, for example, just 2 per cent or less of the population buy online.

E-commerce, Kituyi said, includes both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C), respectively valued at around $19.9 trillion and $2.2 trillion each, according to the new UNCTAD data. This trade is mostly domestic, but is becoming more and more international.

The new UNCTAD data show that e-commerce is growing rapidly, with emerging economies accounting for most of this growth. China is now the world’s largest B2C e-commerce market, both in terms of sales and in number of online shoppers. Brazil, India, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation have also all moved into the top 10 e-commerce markets.

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China, Europe, US agree to provide observation data to developing countries

ITRealms:

The 12^th session of the inter-governmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) ended in the city of Mexico city at the weekend with renewal of pledges by the trio of China, Europe and the United States to provide critical earth observation data to developing countries, reports ITRealms.

Highlight of the session made available to ITRealms by the Senior External Relations Manager, Group on Earth Observations, Robert J. Samors, stated that the three countries have renewed commitment to GEONETCast, an initiative of these countries to this effect.

Samors also quoted the South Africa´s Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, pointed out that the responsibility before African leaders is to ensure the targets of the global goals for Sustainable Development are met.

“We should not take science for granted. We need to provide adequate funding for scientific research and global collaboration,” Pandor said.

Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Jianlin Cao, noted that the promotion of open access data, knowledge and information has become imperative.

“… Data sharing is key for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). As Co-Chair of the Asia-Pacific region, we will implement more activities to enforce GEO cooperation with other countries, such as capacity-building, data sharing, eco-environment, disaster monitoring and climate change observing,” the minister assured.

ITRealms recalls that the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is comprised of some 100 member states, including the European Commission, and 92 Participating Organizations, whereas GEO strives to improve the world’s observation systems and provide policy makers and scientists with accurate and useful data that could be used to make informed decisions.

GEO’s primary focus is to develop a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) to enhance the ability of end-users to discover and access Earth observation data and convert it to useable and useful information.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +ITRealms DSA  +Nnenna Nwakanma +Open Data Center Alliance 
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