Recommendations on the development of the digital economy, e-commerce and innovation at the Economic Forum of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

 

On June 23-24 of this year, the Economic Forum of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the level of Ministers of Economy and Foreign Economic Relations on "Strengthening cooperation in the fields of digital economy, e-commerce and innovation" was held in Dushanbe.

 

 

The forum was attended by ministers and representatives of the SCO member states and observer countries, including the Russian Federation, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Iran and the private sector.

 

Zavqizoda Z. A., opening the Forum, noted the quote of the Founder of Peace and National Unity - Leader of the nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, H.E. Emomali Rahmon, "In the context of the current global situation, it is extremely important to increase trade and economic cooperation in the SCO space."

 

It was noted that in accordance with the instructions of the Leader of the Nation, a number of significant works have been carried out in the country to digitalize the national economy, electronic commerce and simplify trade procedures.

 

In particular, the concept and program for the development of the digital economy have been adopted, and the Trade Portal of Tajikistan has been officially operating since 2019 and today it is used by more than 270 thousand people from 40 countries of the world.

 

Zavqizoda Z. A. noted that the Republic of Tajikistan has increased the share of foreign trade with the SCO member states to 61% and the country's largest trading partners are Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

 

At the same time, it was noted that despite significant progress in the development of the digital economy, e-commerce and innovation in the SCO region, there are still many untapped opportunities in these areas.

 

In this regard, Zavkizoda Z. A. advised to develop an Action Plan to increase the share of the digital economy, implement joint projects of technoparks and digital technologies with the assistance of the SCO Interbank Association, including in free economic zones, train highly qualified IT specialists, develop the infrastructure of the digital economy and simplify trade procedures in the SCO space.

 

In addition, it was noted that the share of electronic commerce today accounts for about 20 % of all world trade and experts estimate that it will increase to 25% by 2025.

 

Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Reshetnikov M. G., Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sultanov B. T., Minister of Economy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Karima H. F., Deputy Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Rustamov O. B., Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan Aliyev E. the heads of other delegations also spoke about the development of cooperation in the field of digital economy, e-commerce and innovation, at the same time highly appreciating the hospitality of the Tajik side and the organization of the forum at the appropriate level, expressed their readiness to strengthen trade and economic relations within the SCO.

Following the results of the forum, in order to further strengthen cooperation in the above-mentioned areas within the SCO, the participants adopted the "Dushanbe Declaration".