Philippines, China sign e-commerce agreement

The Department of Trade and Industry has signed with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce an agreement to work more closely together to develop their respective e-commerce sectors.

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual and Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Electronic Commerce Cooperation on Jan. 4 during the three-day state visit of President Marcos Jr. to the East Asian country.

“This agreement will facilitate the sharing of experiences, best practices, critical information and policies related to trade and e-commerce. We look forward to interventions that will promote consumer and merchant protection, intellectual property, data security and privacy laws,” said Pascual in a statement.

“This MOU will be beneficial in building the capacity of our local businesses to cope with the modernizing business sector,” he added.

Three areas of cooperation were identified under the agreement, with the first calling for the promotion of high quality featured products and services.

The others are pursuing business exchanges between MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), e-commerce platforms, startups and logistics service providers and sharing of best practices and innovative experiences in using e-commerce.

Pascual said the MOU would also operationalize agenda 17 of the e-Commerce Philippines 2022 Road map, concerning the enhancement of cross-border cooperation and market access through trade agreements and economic cooperation programs with major e-commerce trading partners.