eBay Public Policy Lab’s Sassoon Grigorian and U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN Nina Hachigian
This week eBay’s report Commerce 3.0: Enabling ASEAN Small and Medium Enterprises developed by the eBay Global Public Policy Lab was launched by U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN, Nina Hachigian, and Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister, YAB Tan Sri Dato’ Muhyiddin Yassin at the ASEAN SME Showcase in Kuala Lumpur. The launch was covered by Malaysia's The Star newspaper.
ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) represents 10 diverse economies which as a single entity would be the 7th largest economy in the world. eBay’s report focuses on 6 of the 10 ASEAN markets: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia.
The report showcased the enormous opportunity available to ASEAN SMEs engaged in Internet enabled trade with almost all of them exporting.
Some of the key findings include of the report includes:
- ASEAN eBay commercial exporters sell to an average 33 countries compared to NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) countries on average 27, and EU(European Union) 28 on average 18
- Thailand leads ASEAN for largest number of eBay commercial sellers/exporters
- Selangor has the highest concentration of eBay commercial sellers in Malaysia
The report also provides key policy recommendations for policy makers, these include: Supporting and educating SMEs; A light touch regulatory regime; Limiting the liabilities and responsibilities of ecommerce platforms; Improved Internet connectivity and enabling cross border data flows; Increase de minimis thresholds; Improved Logistics; Harmonization of laws; enabling epayments; and New ASEAN ICT Masterplan.
Malaysia is host country of ASEAN in 2015.