News Article: Training Seminar on SSC in Cross-border E-Commerce for Poverty Eradication & Global Sustainable Development jointly launched today by Government of China in partnership with UNOSSC

By March 21, 2022 March 22nd, 2022 News

On 21 March 2022 the training seminar on “South-South Cooperation in Cross-border E-Commerce for Poverty Eradication and Global Sustainable Development” hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of China was officially launched.

The training seminar was announced at the 2021 United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation Commemoration event, by H.E. Ambassador Dai Bing, Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the UN. The training is designed to facilitate knowledge sharing and capacity development on cross-border E-commerce for policy makers, practitioners, and entrepreneurs from developing country governments, IGOs, sectoral associations, academia and the private sectors. It also aims to provide a platform for partnership building and project cooperation, through South-South cooperation.

This 5-day certified seminar series from 21-25 March, is hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of China, in partnership with the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC). Shandong Foreign Trade Vocational College is commissioned by the host to organize the training course.

Speakers at Opening Ceremony of the training seminar

More than 1100 participants from over 90 countries and territories participated actively at the opening ceremony and the Day 1 training session. During the 3-hour course, over 260 live Q&A engagements were recorded. After the completion of the 5-day training, the organizers will summarize the knowledge, questions and answers received related to South-South cooperation, cross-border e-commerce and Sustainable Development Goals, and develop a  knowledge product to be disseminated amongst the participants for continued learning.

Snapshot of the Registrations for the Training Seminar

H.E. Ambassador Dai Bing, Deputy Permanent Representative and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China at the opening ceremony of the training seminar

H.E. Ambassador Dai Bing, Deputy Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations, opened the event. Ambassador Dai, in his remarks, suggests that this training program is  a concrete offering and a pragmatic cooperation between China and the UNOSSC, under the framework of the Global Development Initiative (GDI), with special focuses on poverty reduction and digital economy. China is willing to share its experiences and good practices with other developing countries, and support developing countries to effectively utilize China’s cross-border e-commerce platform and actively establish their own cross-border e-commerce platform to better market their products, enhance productivity, improve livelihood, and develop their economy.

Ms. Usha Rao-Monari, Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) also attended the opening ceremony. She stressed on the importance of South-South knowledge sharing as one of the best ways to build the capacity of developing countries, as well as the key role of cross-border e-commerce and the digital economy in creating opportunities and jobs and eradicating poverty through South-South knowledge sharing.  In addition, she shared that China’s experience in eradicating extreme poverty provides inspiration for all developing countries. UNDP is committed to providing digital support to countries and to respond to the ever-changing digital landscape.

Ms. Usha Rao-Monari, Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the opening ceremony of the training seminar

Mr. Xu Wei, Director General of Department of International Cooperation, China International Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) at the opening ceremony of the training seminar

Mr. Xu Wei, Director General of Department of International Cooperation, China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) also participated in the opening ceremony. Mr. Xu shared that, over the past 70 years, China has organized close to 15,000 training programs for over 160 countries and international organizations in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the South Pacific region, focusing on over 100 thematic areas, including national development, economic and trade cooperation, agricultural cooperation for poverty reduction, medical and health care. In total around 400,000 people have received trainings and capacity development support. China has always believed in and supported sustainable development. China is willing to work with all stakeholders for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, strengthen exchanges and cooperation to help developing countries promote economic and social recovery and development.

Mr. Chen Runyun, Vice President, Academy for International Business Officials, Ministry of Commerce, shared that in the context of the rapid development of information technology and the spread of the COVID-19 global epidemic, the digital economy has become a new engine of the global economy, and cross-border e-commerce has increasingly become an international economic and trade force. If developing countries want to catch up with the development momentum of the global digital economy and advance poverty eradication and sustainable development agenda, they must accelerate digital development and capacity development. Under the framework of South-South cooperation and Global Development Initiative (GDI), it is the joint goal of the Government of China and UNOSSC to provide policy makers, experts and practitioners from developing countries with knowledge, policy guidance and a platform to exchange good practices in cross-border e-commerce.

Mr. Chen Runyun, Vice President, Academy for International Business Officials, Ministry of Commerce at the opening ceremony of the training seminar

Ms. Xiaojun Grace Wang, Deputy Director, UNOSSC at the opening ceremony

The opening ceremony and session one of the training were moderated by Ms. Xiaojun Grace Wang, Deputy Director, UNOSSC.

During the opening, participant representatives, Mr. Jean Premier Bienvenu Rukundo, E-commerce Specialist of Ministry of Trade and Industry, Rwanda and Ms. Nadia Perveen, Lecturer from Quaid I Azam University, Pakistan also shared their insights on the importance of learning and knowledge sharing on E-commerce.

After the opening ceremony, during the 1st Session, Ms. GUAN Wei from Department of Foreign Trade of Ministry of Commerce, Mr. Hu Yan, CEO, Shanghai DaQian Information Technology, and Professor Zhao Youjian from Tsinghua University were invited to present. They shared China’s policy and practices in the field of E-commerce; the global trends, challenges and future of cross-border E-commerce; and the development of E-commerce service systems.

Ms. GUAN Wei, Consultant, Department of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce of People’s Republic of China during the session one of the training seminar

Mr. Hu Yan, CEO, Shanghai DaQian Information Technology during the session one of the training seminar

Mr. Zhao Youjian, Professor, Tsinghua University during the session one of the training seminar