Measuring electronic commerce and the digital economy: UNCTAD - United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

UNCTAD Expert Meeting

Measuring Electronic Commerce as an Instrument for the
Development of the Digital Economy

8-10 September 2003
Room XXVI, Palais des Nations, Geneva

1. Background
A rapidly increasing number of countries are developing national policies and strategies to promote the digital economy, recognizing the potential benefits of e-business as an engine of growth and development.

However, the lack of readily available data on the use of ICT and e-commerce by the business sector and households has been a major obstacle to strategic decision-making, for example in identifying priority areas of policy action, allocation of resources, monitoring, assessing and revising ICT strategies, or benchmarking national economies vis-à-vis those of other countries. Only a few Governments, mainly in the more advanced countries, have started to develop and collect ICT-related data and indicators, and little is known about the size and features of ICT usage and e-commerce in developing countries.

2. Objective of the meeting
The objective of the Expert Meeting is to provide a framework for introducing the developing countries' views into the existing debates and initiatives on digital economy statistics and indicators. Experts will discuss the results of ongoing work at the international level, analyse national and regional experiences and propose best practices and guidelines in the area of e-measurement, from a developing country perspective. A key element of the discussion will involve identifying a set of core indicators for e-business, which could be collected by all countries and which would be comparable at the international level. The experts will also look into the need for further work on the establishment of an international database on ICT usage by enterprises and assess technical assistance needs of countries relating to developing statistical compilation programmes on e-business.

3. Participation
This Expert Meeting will bring together delegations from both developed and developing countries and from international and regional bodies involved in ICT-related statistics. These are expected to include representatives from National Statistical Offices responsible for the collection of information society and e-commerce statistics.
In addition, experts from international and regional organizations dealing with e-measurement matters are invited.