Recap of the "Digital Trade in the Post-COVID World" Online Conference

The conference consisted of five sessions, bringing together experts from academia and international organisations. The opening remarks were made by Joseph Francois, WTI Managing Director,and Jiann-Chyuan Wang, Vice President of CIER.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its various effects have exposed global digital inequalities that produce real economic and social consequences. The aim of the conference was to shed light on five issues, which the international community needs to address to ensure that digital trade in the post-COVID world contributes to global sustainable development. These five issues are:

• The complexity and diversity of digital trade
• The importance of digital trade for sustainable economic development
• Digital work and labour regulation
• Intellectual property rights and digital trade
• Investment in digital infrastructure

Tsai-Yu Lin, Director, Asian Center for WTO & International Health Law and Policy, National Taiwan University College of Law, and Peter Van den Bossche, WTI Director of Studies, made the closing remarks.

We would like to thank all speakers for sharing their expertise and knowledge with the virtual audience. A big thank you also to our co-organisers, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research and the Asian Center for WTO & International Health Law and Policy, National Taiwan University College of Law. Last but not least, our gratitude goes to the organising committee consisting of Peter Van den Bossche, Tsai-Yu Lin, Kristy Hsu, Kimani Goddard, and Gabriela García Merchán.