Last week, Hanne Melin, eBay Director of Global Public Policy, participated in a special commemorative event to mark the 100^th Session of the WTO’s Committee on Trade and Development (CTD). The theme of the event was “Current and Future Perspectives on Trade and Development” and Hanne sat on a panel focused on the road ahead with regard to what needs to be done to ensure that trade works even better as a tool for development. Also appearing on the panel was the Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as well as the Pakistani and Guatemalan Ambassadors to the WTO. The event was inaugurated by the WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo.

In her remarks, Hanne made the case that emerging and developing economies will leverage the potential of platforms for their micro and small enterprises to sell directly to customers – whether consumers or other businesses – around the world. She discussed how online commerce platforms have revolutionized commerce over distance and enabled transactions that were not happening under the traditional trade regime. Hanne presented eBay data demonstrating that when given the chance, micro and small enterprises were embracing exporting at unprecedented levels - regardless of location - and were serving customers in a very large number of different countries. Hanne also advocated for policy changes that could help open additional markets for micro and small enterprises that want to take part in platform-enabled trade. The changes include a multilateral baseline customs’ de Minimis threshold for low value, low risk goods, development of trusted e-trader programs, and improved coordination and logistics among national postal services.