Pan Asian e-Commerce Alliance commits to contribute to WTO national single window initiative
Singapore, 5 December 2014 – The 48th Pan Asian e-Commerce Alliance (“PAA”) Steering Committee meeting, hosted by CrimsonLogic, was held from 4th to 5th December 2014 in Singapore.
The guest of honor, Mr. Ho Chee Pong, the Director-General of Singapore Customs, expressed warm welcome to PAA members from 11 member economies and praised PAA’s role as the bridge to connect the trading community with the respective government authorities in cross border transactions to push forward trade facilitation through bilateral and multilateral collaborations. Referring to the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, Mr. Ho called out the importance of national single windows in improving economic competitiveness.
PAA Chairperson, Mr. Michael Wu, in his speech drew attention to high logistics costs across Asia and the significant savings achieved in PAA member economies with private service providers complementing the government’s efforts in trade facilitation. He stressed the importance of the close co-operation that PAA members had built with governments and called upon the governments to continue to work with PAA members to repeat the successes of the past. “Make use of our domain knowledge, both of commercial practices and government regulations, and exploit our role as a bridge between the two and leverage on our technical expertise. Take advantage of the experience and expertise represented on the PAA.” He pointed out that the Asian region has the most advanced national single window implementation in the world and reported that the PAA Steering Committee had undertaken to work with the various agencies involved to contribute to the process.
Eugene Wong, CrimsonLogic Chairman recognized the contributions PAA rendered in the trade sector, helping local economies to reduce costs and enhance trading efficiency leveraging on the market dominance built in their respective markets. “PAA stands at the forefront of the next generation of developments, guiding business communities on how trade can be made more efficient and cost effective in the global environment. As a community, we can work together to be more integrative in reducing barriers and costs to increase global trade, forming win-win partnerships”.
The Pan Asia Exchange, the new e-Marketplace project for PAA members, was announced at the meeting. The Pan Asia Exchange is a PAA’s initiative to jointly build a unique information platform utilizing their ability to identify genuine service providers in the Asian trading hub to offer global buyers with more accountable, transparent and credit-assured trade leads. With over 340,000 businesses served by the 11 PAA members, the Pan Asia Exchange offers easy access to them through a single sign on and will become the most influential B2B platform in international trade.
The 49th PAA Steering Committee Meeting will be held in Kuala Lumpur on 23th to 24th April 2014.
About Pan-Asian e-Commerce Alliance
The Pan Asian e-Commerce Alliance (PAA) aims to promote and provide secure, trusted, reliable and value-adding IT infrastructure and facilities to enhance seamless trade globally.
PAA was founded in 2000, Current PAA Members comprise CAT of Thailand, CIECC of China, CrimsonLogic of Singapore, Dagang Net of Malaysia, InterCommerce of the Philippines, KTNET of Korea, NACCS of Japan, TEDMEV of Macao SAR, Tradelink of Hong Kong SAR, Trade-Van of Chinese Taipei and PT EDI of Indonesia. Combined customer base of the PAA members now exceeds 200,000 organizations, representing almost all active trading enterprises in the Asian market. For more information about PAA, visit http://www.paa.net.
For more information, please contact:
PAA Secretariat
Attention: Betty Dong
Direct: +852 2161 4374
Fax: +852 2506 0188
Email: betty.dong@tradelink.com.hk