On 18 November 2021, His Excellency Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs delivered the opening remarks at the “APEC Digital Trade Symposium: Advancing Digital Trade Transformation and Connectivity in APEC” via video conference.
The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), with support from International Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organised the APEC Digital Trade Symposium as a platform for public and private sectors to exchange views on advancing digital trade transformation and connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region.
The meeting agreed that digital trade transformation and connectivity are instrumental to balanced and sustainable growth in the region, especially when the pandemic has accelerated the use of digital technology.
The meeting also exchanged views on best practices and success stories from APEC member economies and emphasised that all sectors must join hands to ensure an inclusive transition to digital trade from the local to global level.
In his opening remarks, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed Thailand’s commitment, as host of APEC 2022, to advance digital technology in the Asia-Pacific region in a sustainable and inclusive manner, and invited all sectors, especially APEC and ABAC to join hands and work closely to close the digital gap and harness digitalisation and innovation to bring people back to a future-ready environment.