Por Dogyu Lee & Euronews Doha bureau
Published •last update
The nations of Southeast Asia signed an agreement this Saturday aimed at make it easier for businesses to trade onlinemake payments and transfer data across borders.
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He Framework Agreement on the Digital Economy (Digital Economy Framework Agreement) has been signed by ministers in Manila. It is the first independent, legally binding agreement of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the digital economy.
This scheduled to come into force in May 2027180 days after signing, and which will replace the bloc’s 2019 agreement on e-commerce, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Commerce.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. officially handed over the signed agreement to ANSA Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn at the opening of the bloc’s summit this Sunday.
The pact promotes a Broader acceptance of invoices, shipping documents, and electronic signatures to reduce the paperwork burden. It also claims that the payment systems of different countries work in an interoperable mannerso that companies can pay their suppliers and receive money from customers abroad.
It sets standards for the cross-border transfer of commercial and financial data, and limits requirements for companies to store that information locally, Singapore’s Ministry of Commerce said.
Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong noted that there will still be exceptions to address concerns about privacy, corporate confidentiality, and national security. He added that countries will also be able to move at different paces as they develop their digital systems.
Apply the agreement in practice
The Asian Development Bank announced this Saturday an initiative aimed at raising up to $5 billion (4.5 billion euros) in public and private financing between now and 2030 to support the agreement.
The money would help develop digital infrastructure, payment systems that work between different countries and tools to verify online identities, along with measures to improve cybersecurity.
Gan explained that differences in the degree of digital readiness of countries had made negotiations difficult. Governments are now identifying projects related to payments, digital identities and electronic commercial documents that could be ready when the agreement comes into force.
The agreement comes in a context of expansion of online business throughout the region. Google, Temasek and Bain & Company have forecast that transactions in Southeast Asia’s main digital sectors will reach $368 billion (€333 billion) this year and will exceed 1 trillion dollars (905,000 million euros) in 2035. Their study covers 10 countries and includes online shopping, travel and food delivery.
“The key measure of success will be what businesses experience on the ground,” Singapore Business Federation chief executive Kok Ping Soon said in a statement released by the Ministry of Commerce.
Source: es.euronews.com
