Residents buy goods at the cross-border e-commerce exhibition area at the fifth China-Arab States Expo in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Sunday. Photo: VCG

China will continue to promote the development of the global cross-border e-commerce, while encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in digital trading which will help achieve a long-term economic recovery when the coronavirus public health crisis eventually passes, a Chinese official said at a workshop on Wednesday. 

The second Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Cross-border E-commerce Training Workshop was held on Wednesday in Beijing sponsored jointly by the department of international economic and trade affairs of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and Chinese cross-border e-commerce platform DHgate.com both online and offline. 

China has the world's largest e-commerce market, and cross-border e-commerce is a major pillar supporting China's foreign trade, Yu Benlin, director-general of the department of international economic and trade affairs of MOFCOM, said at the workshop.

Yu noted that China is committed to creating a favorable policy environment for small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in the digital economy and propel digital transformation, while the country has been continuously strengthening the transformation and upgrading traditional forms of foreign trade while promoting the development of multilateral cross-border e-commerce and digital trade cooperation.

The workshop was aimed at further promoting the development of the global cross-border e-commerce despite the pandemic while providing guidance and support for small and medium-sized enterprises in the APEC region. 

While the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the global economy; it however accelerated the digitalization of trade. The scale of the global cross-border e-commerce industry increased by 20 percent in 2020, according to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). 

Moreover, small and medium-sized enterprises accounted for more than 97 percent in APEC economies. 

Small and medium-sized enterprises fully participating in cross-border e-commerce is significant in terms of expanding employment and promoting trade growth, which also helps achieve the long-term economic recovery, said Yu.

Business representatives from enterprises highlighted the importance of companies to establish strategies to cope with the uncertainties amid the pandemic at the panel discussion, while suggesting the industry to closely cooperate with the government to further promote the development of China's cross-border e-commerce overseas, such as setting up a faster custom clearance process. 

Experts proposed strategies for enterprises to ensure cyber security safety over rising concerns while expanding their businesses during the workshop. 

In 2020, China's cross-border e-commerce import and export volume reached 1.69 trillion yuan ($260 billion), an increase of 31.1 percent over the previous year, with the scale of cross-border e-commerce increasing nearly 10 times in the past five years, official data showed. 

Global Times