eBay Inc.'s APAC Head of Public Policy Sassoon Grigorian (right) speakes at the Smart Regulations and Policies for Innovation panel.

Effective and market driven innovation and trade policy was the topic of discussion at the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) Conference on Innovation and Trade Implementation Practices which took place in Medan, Indonesia on 29 June 2013.

The conference was attended by leading businesses, trade officials, industry associations, and representatives from APEC’s 21 countries. eBay Inc. was represented by Head of Public Policy, APAC, Sassoon Grigorian, addressing the session on Smart Regulations and Policies for Innovation.

The panel focused on several issues to improve regulation and included the findings of Commerce 3.0: Creating more opportunity in Asia Pacific report. Among areas addressed to improve innovation and trade policy included:

• Harmonisation of regulations across the region;
• Developing regulations from the perspective of SME’s;
• Regulations to take into account how organisations trade; and
• Applying data-enhanced models to the regulatory process.

The Conference provides input into the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI), the coordinating body for all of APEC's work in these areas. The CTI provides a forum for APEC's 21 member economies to deliberate trade and policy issues.