Reghional e-Business Forums

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Regional E-Business Forums

The benefits of information and communication technology (ICT), when applied to health, education and other government services, are well known. What is not that well known is the significant potential of these technologies to spur new opportunities for trade and economic development in the developing world.

Technologies open up completely new product and service niches. Back office operations, manufacturing high-tech components, web site management and distance learning are some of the opportunities firms in developing countries have been exploiting.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries represent a most effective medium for putting “e” to work in order to create wealth and alleviate poverty.

Concept

The Regional e-Business Forums concentrate on exploiting emerging e-business opportunities and applying new technologies to promote trade.

The principle strength of the Business Forum is the establishment of dialogue between export managers and strategy makers with responsibilities to promote international e-business.

The prime capacity of the Forum is its unique combination of learning, expertise sharing, interactive dialogue, networking, and business matching. In particular,the e-Business Forum:

Compiles and disseminates best national and international e-business practices;

Facilitates the integration of “e” dimensions into national export strategy planning and business-to-business (B2B) trade development;

Builds and enhances the e-Business Network; and

Showcases evolving trends in e-business practice.

It is also an attempt to activate effective international partnerships in the e-business sector.

The recent e-Business Forum took place in Brazil between 2-5 November 2004. Entitled 'Empowering SME Exporters Through ICT”' it attracted policy-makers, SME managers, trade associations and government officials from 10 Latin American Countries.

Click here for the presentations, speeches and full report.

The first E-Business Forum, for Asia and the Pacific, took place in Kathmandu in November 2003.

Click here to view the presentations
Click here for a summary of the Nepal (Kathmandu) Forum (PDF Format, 91 KB)
Click here for the work programme (PDF Format, 369 KB)

Other meetings in Africa and Eastern Europe will follow.