The $1.4 million contribution will help countries bolster official e-commerce statistics and digital economy policymaking over the next three years.
© UNCTAD Photo | A cooperation agreement between UN Trade and Development and Saudi Arabia was signed on 12 May in Geneva by Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan (right) and the country’s vice commerce minister Eman Al-Mutairi (left).
Saudi Arabia is committing $1.4 million to support UN Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) work on measuring e-commerce and the digital economy.
The country’s Vice Minister of Commerce, Eman Al-Mutairi, announced the contribution agreement with UN Trade and Development Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan during the 8th session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-Commerce and the Digital Economy that begins in Geneva on 12 May.
The new funds will enable more efforts to shore up official e-commerce statistics on key aspects such as its uptake, value creation for businesses, and different performance across industries and countries.
UN Trade and Development has estimated that global e-commerce sales reached over $27 trillion in 2022 – based on the latest available data covering businesses in 43 developed and developing economies.
More data is needed to better understand the development of the digital economy and inform evidence-based policy actions.
“Measuring the actual value of these opportunities remains a great challenge,” says UN Trade and Development Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan.
“Under this agreement, we will be able to develop the evidence base needed to understand the current ‘state of play´ regarding e-commerce in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but also improve measurement at the global level.”
Bridging e-commerce data gaps in Saudi Arabia and beyond
The collaboration with Saudia Arabia consists of two tracks – domestic and international.
The former will focus on assessing the degree of digital trade uptake and value of e-commerce transactions in Saudi Arabia – one of the largest economies in the Middle East.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is steadfastly advancing its ambitious transformation agenda under the leadership of His Royal Highness Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, strategically positioning itself as a diversified and competitive economy across economic, social and cultural spheres,” says Vice Minister Eman Al-Mutairi.
“This partnership with UNCTAD will further solidify the Kingdom’s leadership in the digital domain, enabling us to effectively measure and harness the vast economic potential of e-commerce for our businesses, thereby reinforcing our global competitiveness,” the vice minister adds.
In parallel, the global track will support the work of a dedicated task group convened by UN Trade Development, comprising experts from more than 25 countries and fellow international organizations.
The group seeks to formulate internationally agreed guidelines and recommendations on measuring the value of e-commerce and digitally ordered trade – a common foundation on which countries can build robust and comparable statistics.
UN Trade and Development’s E-commerce and the Digital Economy Programme has seen growing donor support in recent years, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With digitalization featuring increasingly prominent on the global development agenda, the programme responds to developing countries’ need for international support and helps them improve readiness – such as infrastructure, legal and policy frameworks – to create and capture value from the digital economy.