Download or read book Unleashing E Commerce for South Asian Integration written by Sanjay Kathuria and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2019-12-03 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is part of a broader work program on shaping a more positive narrative on regional integration in South Asia. It is a follow-up to a recent flagship report published by the South Asia Region of the World Bank, A Glass Half Full: The Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia. E-commerce is dramatically changing the way goods and services are transacted nationally, regionally, and globally. It facilitates international trade by reducing the cost of distance and remoteness and can be more inclusive of underrepresented groups such as women, small businesses, and rural entrepreneurs. Intraregional trade in South Asia is still below its potential, and the region lags behind other parts of the world in activating the potential benefits from e-commerce. Adopting a novel yet practical approach, this report explores how e-commerce can be boosted to deepen intraregional trade in South Asia. It examines the main transacting models in the digital space and the channels through which e-commerce helps reduce transactions costs for firms and consumers. It considers the regulations, as well as the regulatory gaps, affecting private sector participation in e-commerce, focusing on data privacy, consumer protection, delivery, cybersecurity, market-access regulations, and digital payments. Finally, the report presents recommendations for regulatory reforms that could enhance e-trade, especially in a regional context and as a possible platform for greater global engagement by South Asian firms. The scale of these recommendations ranges from the modest, such as allowing cross-border payments and streamlining the customs regime, to the more ambitious, such as allowing the operation of regional e-commerce platforms and liberalizing related cross-border logistics services.

Download or read book E commerce Evolution in Asia and the Pacific written by Asian Development Bank and published by Asian Development Bank. This book was released on 2023-11-01 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report analyzes e-commerce in Asia and the Pacific, assesses its environmental impact, and explains why providing adequate internet, online payments, and last-mile logistics is key to creating a sustainable and inclusive digital marketplace. Noting the region makes up the largest share of the world’s online retail market, it tracks the impact of the pandemic and emphasizes the need to level the playing field for small businesses. It outlines ways for companies to measure their carbon footprint, highlights the potential risk of anti-competitive behavior, and explains the need to improve digital taxation policies in line with e-commerce’s rapid growth.

Download or read book South Asia Economic Focus written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2021-10-07 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South Asia region’s economies continue on a recovery path, with production and export having recovered to pre-COVID trend levels. But the recovery has been uneven across countries and sectors, and significant risks exist that could jeopardize short-term recovery and long-term growth. Over the short-term, low vaccination rates in most countries in the region make the population and economies vulnerable to future COVID waves and lockdowns; supply shortages due to global supply bottlenecks continue to put upward pressure on (food) inflation, especially after consumption recovers. Over the long-term, the region faces long-lasting scarring effects from the pandemic. The emergence of a new services economy creates an opportunity for the region to shift gears and to move towards a services-led development model. The importance of services has been increasing over time and got a further boost during the response to the COVID pandemic, when digital technologies became critical. This new services economy comprises not just the ICT sector, but also business and professional services that are increasingly critical inputs into manufacturing and other sectors, and digital platforms that are creating new markets. It can become the driver of development in South Asia because 1) Services are increasingly tradable and also represent a large part of value added incorporated in the exports of goods. 2) Services firms can drive productivity growth because of innovations that make their own products and other industries more efficient 3) The services sector also generates jobs and helps upgrading skills through on-the-job training. To unleash the potential of the new services economy, policy makers should rethink regulations and establish new institutions to enable 1) competition and innovation 2) increased labor mobility and up-skilling, through education and on-the job training; 3) the absorption of new services by firms and households. Governments in South Asia are addressing these new realities, but they face major challenges. With countries worldwide struggling to find an optimal institutional environment for the new services sectors, a good option for South Asia is to experiment with regulatory sandboxes.

Download or read book South Asia Economic Update October 2020 written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2020-10-08 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The COVID-19 pandemic, which is still impacting South Asia, has temporarily brought the region to a near standstill. Governments proactively stabilized activity through monetary easing, fiscal stimulus, and supportive financial regulation, but the situation is fragile amid weak buffers and exhausted policy tools. South Asia’s GDP is expected to contract 7.7 percent this year, by far the largest decline on record, but uncertainty around the forecast is substantial. The informal economy in South Asia has been hit hard. Many unorganized workers, self-employed people and microenterprises have experienced a large drop in earnings as the service sectors that were affected most by the lockdowns are dominated by informality. Informal workers and firms tend to have inadequate mechanisms for coping with short-term demand and supply interruptions due to limited savings and constrained access to finance. While the poor have suffered severely during the crisis, many informal workers in the middle of the income distribution have experienced the greatest drop in earnings. Most of them are not covered by social insurance. The crisis lays bare complicated structural problems in the informal sector that need to be addressed.

Download or read book Agricultural Innovation in Developing East Asia written by Riikka Rajalahti and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2021-12-29 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agricultural innovation has played a critical role in the economic transformation of developing East Asian countries over the past half century. The Green Revolution—in the form of modern seed varieties, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and modern machinery—has contributed to increased crop yields and farm incomes, and decreased poverty across the region. Although policy makers’ traditional focus on expanding and intensifying agricultural production has brought many benefits, the focus on productivity has come at a rising cost. The environmental sustainability of agricultural production is increasingly under threat. Moreover, as countries in the region have become more urbanized and demand for processed foods has risen, inadequate food safety systems and related food safety hazards have created a new form of food insecurity. As detailed in Agricultural Innovation in Developing East Asia: Productivity, Safety, and Sustainability, a new generation of innovation in agriculture has the potential to address the challenges of productivity, sustainability, and food safety to deliver a “triple win.†? To make the most of this promising wave of agricultural innovations, policy makers in the region will need to act to strengthen countries’ agricultural innovation systems. This effort will require a cross-cutting approach, including policy and institutional reforms, improved governance of countries’ agri-food systems, and efforts to build farmers’ and firms’ capacities to adopt new technologies and to innovate.

Download or read book What s Cooking written by Kateryna Schroeder and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2021-04-15 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The digital agriculture revolution holds a promise to build an agriculture and food system that is efficient, environmentally sustainable, and equitable, one that can help deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. Unlike past technological revolutions in agriculture, which began on farms, the current revolution is being sparked at multiple points along the agrifood value chain. The change is driven by the ability to collect, use, and analyze massive amounts of machine-readable data about practically every aspect of the value chain, and by the emergence of digital platforms disrupting existing business models. All this allows for drastically reduced transaction costs and pervasive information asymmetries that plague the agrifood system. The success of the digital transformation, however, is not guaranteed as the risks it brings are numerous, including those related to data governance and inadequate competition within and between digital platforms. What’s Cooking: Digital Transformation of the Agrifood System investigates how digital technologies can accelerate the transformation of the agrifood system by increasing efficiency on the farm; improving farmers’ access to output, input, and financial markets; strengthening quality control and traceability; and improving the design and delivery of agriculture policies. It also identifies a key role for the public sector in maximizing the benefits of this process while minimizing its risks, through enabling an innovation ecosystem featuring open datasets, digital platforms, digital entrepreneurship, digital payment systems, and digital skills and encouraging equitable technology adoption.

Download or read book Regional Integration and Economic Development in South Asia written by Sultan Hafeez Rahman and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-01 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South Asian leaders have made it a priority to tackle key regional issues such as poverty, environment degradation, trade and investment barriers and food insecurity, among others.

Download or read book COVID 19 and E commerce written by United Nations Publications and published by . This book was released on 2022-04-30 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication assesses the impact of COVID-19 on e-commerce and digital trade. While the pandemic caused a sharp deceleration in economic activity, it also led to a rapid acceleration of e-commerce. With restrictions on movement and other public health interventions in place, digital solutions have become essential to continued delivery of economic and social activities. And, as the digital economy and e-commerce play an increased role in Sustainable Development, stakeholders at all levels have a responsibility to ensure that these technologies play a positive and powerful role in national and international recovery efforts. Indeed, those that can harness the potential of e-commerce will be better placed to benefit from global markets for their goods and services, while those that fail to do so risk falling behind. Thus, the critical global policy challenge that emerges from this study is that greater efforts are needed to help reduce inequalities in e-trade readiness that currently prevail amongst countries.

Download or read book Unleashing Entrepreneurship written by and published by UN. This book was released on 2004 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report offers recommendations on how major actors such as governments, public development institutions, the private sector and civil society organizations can modify their actions and approaches to enhance the ability of the private sector to advance the development process. It highlights the importance of developing businesses as a means to reducing global poverty.

Download or read book The Report Malaysia 2014 written by Oxford Business Group and published by Oxford Business Group. This book was released on 2014-12-08 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Malaysia’s natural resources and its well-educated population are some of the many credentials that keep the country in good stead, with priorities centred on preparing for the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 and steering the policy framework toward more inclusive political representation. The economy is built around global trade, and the government is working to encourage greater private investment. Malaysia's GDP per capita is the highest in South-east Asia, with the exception of smaller countries like Singapore and Brunei Darussalam, $ reaching 10,548 in 2013 based on a GDP of $ 307.25bn and a population of almost 30m. The country produces 39% of the world's palm oil and 44% of its exports, and Increasing global demand for the commodity Bodes well for the industry. Malaysia has seen its stock rise in the World was Bank's Annual " the Ease of Doing Business" report, moving up to 6th position in 2014 from 8th the previous year. 's Avatar Recent times have seen the Government push hard for a Greater role for the : private sector in the country's development, with the various Government Programmes aiming to boost Transparency, accountability and Sustainable Growth. The overall aim of these plans is to elevate Malaysia to become a high -income country by 2020.

Download or read book Unleashing the potential written by Marope, P.T.M. and published by UNESCO Publishing. This book was released on 2015-05-26 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "UNESCO has recently published the third volume of its Education on the Move series, a series dedicated to the analysis of key trends in education with the hope of inspiring dialogue among policy makers, educators and other key stakeholders on the challenges of education for tomorrow. The latest publication, entitled Unleashing the Potential: Transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training is focused entirely on issues related to technical and vocational education and training (TVET). It takes stock of the steadily increasing demands and expectations on TVET systems around the globe and presents recent policy trends in the field of TVET. In their analysis, the authors provide insights into what it takes to unleash the potential of TVET systems around the world. They propose an integrated analytical approach that takes into consideration such factors as economic growth, social equity and issues related to sustainability so that TVET can contribute more effectively to contemporary policy issues such as youth unemployment, gender disparities and climate change. Overall, the book calls for a transformation of TVET systems to enable them to respond to the demands of their contexts. This transformation should enable TVET systems to acquire agility to stay current and responsive to the rapidly changing demands of the twenty-first century."--Publisher's website.

Download or read book Future of Regional Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific written by Bambang Susantono and published by Asian Development Bank. This book was released on 2020-11-01 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reviews progress with regional cooperation and integration in Asia and the Pacific and explores how it can be reshaped to achieve a more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive future. Consisting of papers contributed by renowned scholars and Asian Development Bank staff, the book covers four major areas: public goods, trade and investment, financial cooperation, and regional health cooperation. The book emphasizes how the region can better leverage regional integration to realize its vast potential as well as overcome challenges such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Download or read book Digital Economy written by Harbhajan S. Kehal and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation Digital Economy provides information about the socioeconomic aspects of the digital economy. This set of eighteen essays covers the effects of digital economy on business transactions, technology and culture, as well as on education. It also covers various aspects of global production, trade, and investment and the effects of the Internet.

Download or read book A Glass Half Full written by Sanjay Kathuria and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2018-09-07 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trade has played a critical role in global poverty reduction. In harnessing the potential of trade, some of the most successful countries have developed strong trade relationships with their neighbors. However, many South Asian countries have trade regimes that often offset the positive impact of geography and proximity. This report documents systematically the gaps between current and potential trade in South Asia and addresses important specific barriers that have held trade back. These barriers include tariffs and paratariffs, real and perceived nontariff barriers, connectivity costs, and the broader trust deficit. This policy-focused report unpacks these critical barriers to effective trade integration in South Asia through four in-depth studies that produce new, detailed, on-the-ground knowledge. Three of the studies are based on extensive stakeholder consultations. Two also rely on tailored surveys. The fourth study, on tariffs, benefits from new data on paratariffs. The report also marshals new evidence showing how trading regimes in South Asia discriminate against each other. Given the South Asian context, incremental, yet concrete steps aimed at tapping the potential of deeper integration are appropriate. The report has been drafted in this spirit. It offers precise, actionable policy recommendations that could help achieve measurable progress in key areas of trade and integration that would be to the advantage of all countries in the region.

Download or read book The Dilemma of Energy Security written by Asia Mukhtar and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-05-25 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Energy Security has emerged as a critical issue in the field of International Relations. Focusing on the case of Pakistan this book attempts to establish the main actors, dynamics, and contributing elements in the exacerbating energy security situation of the country. The Author supports that clean energy generation sources are abundantly available yet remain unutilized in the Pakistani situation. How much can South Asian Geopolitics and Pakistan’s Partition be blamed for this Energy Security crisis? What political and institutional elements have profoundly deteriorated this situation? This volume highlights the challenges and opportunities regarding the country's Energy Security.

Download or read book Global Trends 2040 written by National Intelligence Council and published by Cosimo Reports. This book was released on 2021-03 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Download or read book The WEB of Transport Corridors in South Asia written by Asian Development Bank;JICA;UKAID;World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2018-03-19 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The WEB of Transport Corridors in South Asia develops a holistic appraisal methodology to ensure that economic benefits of investments in transport corridors are amplified and more widely spread, and possible negative impacts such as congestion, environmental degradation, and other unintended consequences are minimized. It focuses on South Asia—not only as one of the world’s most populous and poorest regions—but as a hinge between East Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The book is aimed at politicians, technocrats, civil society organizations, and businesses. It presents case studies of past and recent corridor initiatives, provides rigorous analysis of the literature on the spatial impact of corridors, and offers assessments of corridor investment projects supported by international development organizations. A series of spotlights examines such issues as private sector co-investment; the impacts of corridors on small enterprises and women; and issues with implementing cross-border corridors. The 'WEB' in the title stands for both the wider economic benefits (WEB) that transport corridors are expected to generate and the complex web of transport corridors that has been proposed. The appraisal methodology introduced in this book shows how the web of interconnected elements around corridors can be disentangled and the most promising corridor proposals—the ones with the greatest wider economic benefits—can be selected.