G20 Summit issues “Osaka Declaration on Digital Economy”

Accordingly, leaders of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico,Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States,Spain,Chile, Netherlands, Senegal, Singapore, Thailand,and Viet Nam, share the view that digitalization is transforming every aspect of our economies and societies, and data is increasingly becoming an important sourceof economic growth,and its effective use should contribute to social well-beingin all countries.

They affirmed theimportance of promotingnational and international policy discussions for harnessing the full potential of data and digital economy to foster innovation to keep pace with the fast-growing digital economyandmaximize the benefits of digitalization and emerging technologies.

The leaders, standing together with other WTO members that participate in the Joint Statement on Electronic Commerce issued in Davos on 25 January 2019, in which 78 WTO members are on board, declared the launch of the "Osaka Track".

The Osaka Track demonstrates their commitment to promote efforts on international rule-making on digital economy, especially on data flow and electronic commerce.

This will provide a political impetus to the negotiations on electronic commerce at the WTO in order to move forward in a fully-fledged manner.

By Hoang Ha