E-commerce readiness and strategy formulation

A growing consensus is emerging on the need to adopt e-commerce enhancing policies in the context of national development strategies and plans. All 13 responding countries, out of the 18 involved in this monitoring exercise, have confirmed that a national e-commerce strategy is either being implemented, finalized, in the pipeline or that they are actively looking for support for strategy development. In some cases, the process leading to the formulation of a national e-commerce strategy has been instrumental to fostering greater public-private cooperation and coordination. While interesting developments have been registered regarding the contribution of e-government in advancing countries’ digital agenda, significant gaps remain in terms of availability of statistics on e-commerce transactions. The overall implementation rate combining all 13 countries’ implemented recommendations in this policy area is 46 per cent.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Gender Equality

Decent Work and Economic Growth

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure