BRIEF REPORT

The Workshop was organized by Non-Aligned Movement Centre for South-South Technical Cooperation (NAM CSSTC) together with the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources of the Government of Brunei Darussalam. The project was financed as part of the annual contribution of the Government of Brunei Darussalam to NAM CSSTC.

Within the context of its programme on the Eradication of Poverty and Fostering Rapid and Equitable Development in NAM Member Countries, this project was organized to focus on how small and medium enterprises - the dominant production and employment agents in developing economies - could take advantage of the facilities provided by e-commerce to enhance the scope of information and communication with others, domestically as well as abroad, in order to increase their market exposure. These enterprises could also be made aware of business or production practices that could make their enterprises more efficient, including the acquisition of higher technologies. They should be in a much position to participate in the process of globalization. Furthermore, by enabling them to do so, the income level of the lower- as well as middle-income strata of the population could be significantly increased, thus lifting the lower end of the distribution of income curve.

There were 74 experts and country participants from 19 NAM member countries from Africa, Europe, West-, Central-, South- and Southeast Asia, as well as Latin America. The list of experts and country participants is in Attachment 1. The discussion ranged from the issues and strategies of implementing e-commerce programmes; e-commerce awareness; SME’s access to infrastructure; strategic alliances; and common legal framework for e-commerce (see Attachment 2). The agenda and the proceedings of the meeting are in Attachments 3 and 4, respectively.

Some of the salient conclusions can be summarized as follows:

1.   The E-readiness of SMEs in various NAM member countries varies quite considerably in conducting their own businesses. For SMEs in countries that have lower per capita income, their most important bottlenecks are the lack of managerial. administrative and technical skills; limited knowledge of more advanced technologies; limited knowledge and opportunities to expand their markets, domestic or foreign; lack of access to credit, lack of awareness of the potentials of e-commerce for them; lack of access to computers and the required hardwares and softwares.

2.    For SMEs in these same countries, i.e. with lower per capita income, the constraints faced by them extend beyond what they, singly or collectively, could overcome. This ranges from the absence or lack of electricity and telephone connections to the lack of internet facilities in rural areas.

3.   For SMEs in these countries, therefore, they could be assisted to obtain the necessary skills (managerial, administrative, technical and technology); expand their markets, domestic or foreign; expand their access to credit, bank loans or venture capital; and to use computer facilities through the establishment of community multi-purpose tele-centers. In this connection, the possibility of establishing SME incubation centers and programmes was briefly discussed.

4.   Discussion was held on ways to overcome the lack of electricity and telephone lines to rural and more isolated locations within the country. The use of electric generators and wireless telecommunication infrastructure was also mentioned. In this connection, the use of tele-education programmes was suggested.

5.     For SMEs in NAM countries with higher per capita income - where the above mentioned obstacles do not pose the most important constraints - they are in a much better position to take advantage of e-commerce. The main bottleneck which they face is the lack of compatibility of national e-commerce laws in different NAM member countries. It should be noted that there are significant differences emanating from e-commerce and the conventional paper-based commerce: electronic record; rules of contract; digital signature; information privacy and information p[rotection; electronic payment and taxation in e-commerce. Suggestion was made that NAM member countries use the e-commerce section of the United Nations Commission for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) to harmonize national e-commerce laws of NAM member countries. The potential for increased trade for SMEs of the NAM member countries should be enormous.

The Workshop identified specific actions that could be taken by NAM Governments, the private sector, and NAM CSSTC to overcome the various obstacles identified. These are identified in Attachment 5.

NAM CSSTC plans to immediately undertake three follow-up actions:

1.    Identify expertise on international trade laws, particularly in e-commerce laws, from NAM member countries;

2.   Undertake an expert group meeting to identify the benefits and difficulties, if any, of harmonizing national e-commerce laws in NAM member countries. This could be followed by the provision of advisory services, using expertise from NAM member countries;
 

3.  Undertake an expert group meeting to recommend policies and programmes to support the development of SMEs in different groups of NAM member countries