Issues on Digital Trade

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From trade in goods then trade in services, we now have digital trade. While there is no universally accepted definition, digital trade is generally understood to cover all cross-border resident/non-resident transactions that are either digitally ordered, online platform enabled, and/or digitally delivered. Since it is a new and still evolving form of trade, the conceptual and measurement issues remain challenging, and will continue to be so, with innovations in technologies and business applications. Nonetheless, there are a number of strategies, policies, and activities that the Philippines can pursue to keep up with technological advances and take advantage of the opportunities associated with digital trade. The country should also continue to exploit its strength in information and communication technologies (ICT) and ICT-enabled services and, at the same time, develop new sources of export growth, particularly in digital products. To ensure that the benefits of e-commerce and digital trade are more widely enjoyed, constraints in terms of e-trade readiness should be addressed. The inhibiting factors are not limited to connectivity although it is perhaps the most critical problem for the Philippines at this stage. Policy and regulatory restrictions should be reviewed to help create the enabling environment for digital trade.