UK, Asean business council in move to speed up digital trade transformation
Britain and the Asean Business Advisory Council (Asean-BAC) have signed a letter of intent for Asean-BAC to carry out an impact assessment and come up with a road map for Asean Regional Digital Trade Transformation (RDTT).
Britain’s Ambassador to Thailand Brian Davidson and Arin Jira chairman of the Asean-BAC yesterday (November 1) signed the letter of intent at Marriott Marquis Hotel in Bangkok.
The Asean RDTT project aims to standardise and digitalise business documentation for trade within the Asean region to increase the efficiency of trade between Asean countries and their key trade partners – cutting waiting times and lowering the associated costs, as well as making it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to trade.
The project was expected to raise the trustworthiness and reliability for international transactions and minimise the risk of fraud. By providing greater confidence to financial institutions, it was hoped that it would also make it easier for SMEs operating international businesses to secure loans.
The UK will further identify an international consultant company to assist the Asean-BAC to conduct a key establishing study providing guidance regarding standardisation of regulation and documentation for international trade under the RDTT project, as well as a road map for the project.
“The UK is strongly committed to free trade. As a global leader in enabling technologies, we are pleased to be able to work on trade digitisation with Asean BAC through the UK’s Global Trade Programme. This is just one in a series of similar programmes that the UK is taking forward in partnership with Asean – a partnership which I hope will continue to expand.” said the British ambassador to Thailand.