A MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT OF RAKAN SARAWAK BULLETIN (People, events, activities and programmes which make for a total quality-managed Sarawak Civil Service) ISSN 1394-5726

Online Publisher:          Contents provided by:	e - commerce leads the way forward Electronic Commerce or E-Commerce, as it is popularly known is another buzz word in today's IT vocabulary. It basically refers to commercial transactions done electronically.  The emergence of electronic commerce will affect the economic environment, the organisation of firms, the behaviour of consumers, the workings of government and most sphere of activity of households and citizens.  Electronic commerce will be a key element with electronic transactions and perhaps electronic money and electronic cash will probably become a feature of the daily lives of the citizens of the 'information society."         As the enormous potential for electronic commerce becomes increasingly apparent, there is a growing recognition of the need to create the right global framework to ensure its continued growth in a socially responsible manner.  Business, consumers and governments need to work together to remove barriers and elements of uncertainty that can impede the development of electronic commerce.  It is time to examine the scope for governments and industry, in co-operation with labour, consumers and other interested parties, to reach common understanding in areas where this would be helpful in creating a certain, secure and predictable environment fro electronic commerce.         The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Government of Canada will hold a Ministerial conference on elctronic commerce in Ottawa from 7 to 9 October 1998.  The conference will bring together Ministers of OECD Member countries, private sector and labour representatives and industry leaders, as well as the heads of international organisations and representatives of selected non-member countries, to address key issue surrounding the evolution of electronic commerce on a global basis.         At a two-day conference themed "Positioning The Cyberpreneurs Into The Next Millennium," which began on 7 July 1998, the Deputy Minister of Entrepreneur Development, Datuk Idris Jusoh stated that as of 1995, as much as US$131 million (US$1=RM4.18) of businesses done were through e-commerce. Abnd this number is expected to increase to about US$600 billion by the year 2000.  He further added that by the year 2000, "it is expected that almost 8% of retail businesses will be done via e-commerce."       The recently-concluded APEC trade ministers meeting in Kuching, Sarawak, have endorsed plans to develop principles for the burgeoning new era of lectronic commerce.  The ministers have agreed to back regional programs to address problems associated with identifying possible impediments to e-commerce. The Pacific Economic Co-operation Council (PECC), one of three observers at the APEC trade ministers conference, though admitting that the "so-called e-commerce was a small and uneven portion of overall commerce," admitted that "its potential growth and benefits are great."  It said that "what needs to be addressed are the very real market and technical barriers to e-commerce."  PECC chairman, Roberto Romulo said that "we need to ensure that laws are updated, that people are conversant with e-commerce and that it can go across borders without violation of sovereignty.  It cannot be solved overnight."
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