A thriving cross border e-commerce among Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries could generate millions of jobs, particularly for women and youth. It could become a catalyst for gender equality at the same time, said SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov, underlining the importance of cooperation on digitalization and information-communication technologies within the region.

The former Uzbek foreign minister also suggested that China's recent experience in transforming itself as the world's biggest digital marketplace could serve as a prime example for the Eurasian bloc.

"The SCO leadership understands the importance of developing e-commerce and digital economy, and is giving top attention to increase trade turnover [through e-commerce] between member states," Norov said in an exclusive interview with CGTN Digital at the SCO Secretariat in Beijing.

"The topic was in focus during the Qingdao Summit declaration [in 2018] as well as at the Bishkek Summit this year; and was also mentioned in the joint communique released after the 18th session of the Council of Head of Governments of SCO Member States in Tashkent on November 2," he added.

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The SCO top official said experiences in China, and to a certain degree in India and Russia, have showed that e-commerce has helped in creating more opportunities for women and youth.

"We are looking at the experiences of countries like China, India and Russia, which have had more advantages in e-commerce among the SCO member states. E-commerce has created a large number of jobs, mostly for women and youth," Norov said.

"For example, the platform of [Chinese e-commerce giant] Alibaba last year created 40 million new jobs [through its expansive retail ecosystem]. At the same time, Alibaba also has 2 million partners from small and medium companies. So, they are helping to develop local businesses," he elaborated.

"It is estimated that of the total number of people engaged in e-commerce in China, 55 percent are women. So when we talk about gender equality it is a practical option. E-commerce offers more opportunities to women as many of these businesses can be conducted from home," he added.

Earlier this August, Norov met Alibaba Group's co-founder Jack Ma during the Smart China Expo 2019 event in southwest China's Chongqing, where they discussed ways to improve cooperation in the field of digitalization and information-communication technologies among the SCO countries. Ma, who announced his retirement as Alibaba's executive chairman on September 10, extended his firm's support in SCO's endeavor.

The SCO has eight member states – China, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. In addition, Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia have observer status while six countries, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey are on board as dialogue partners.

The combined population of the SCO countries is more than three billion, nearly half of the world's total population. With the number of young people within the age group of 14-25 estimated around 800 million, the SCO region has a potential to expand cross-border e-trade exponentially in the coming years.

The organization is already giving serious thoughts to establish an SCO Bank to synchronize digital payment gateways using local currencies in an effort to boost e-commerce within the Eurasian bloc.

Cooperation on cyberspace

Emphasizing that the world has entered the 4th Industrial Revolution where artificial intelligence (AI), big data, 5G and internet of things are increasingly playing an influential role in all aspects of our lives which will only increase with time, Norov said the SCO is already working to cooperate in all these areas that would also comprise the major matrix for trans-border e-commerce and digital economy.

"At the Bishkek Summit in June this year, on the initiative of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, we adopted the Concept for Cooperation between the SCO Member States in the Sphere of Digitalization and Information and Communication Technologies," he said.

The cooperation concept was designed to expand cooperation between the SCO member states in digitalization, information and communication technologies and innovation. Information security, robotics, the internet of things, big data handling and artificial intelligence are among its priorities.

"There will be tremendous changes in next decades in the economy and lives of peoples. So, SCO member states are looking for cooperation in all these areas including digital economy, which will cover all aspects of our life… social, economy, medicare, education and so on," Norov remarked.

Noting the absence of "a comprehensive international system of trade rules regulating e-commerce," the SCO Secretary-General emphasized the need to create a program for the SCO countries' cooperation in cybersecurity.

"Last year, some 3.5 billion U.S. dollars were lost worldwide to attacks by hackers. We need to think about protecting our cyber area and also the rights of consumers. This makes cooperation in cybersecurity all the more important for the SCO countries," he said.

Interview: Abhishek G Bhaya

Video Editor: Zhang Rongyi