André Simha, MSC’s Chief Digital and Information Officer, will be speaking at ‘The promise of TradeTech: Policy approaches to harness trade digitalization’ on 12 April 2022. Organised by the World Trade Organization and World Economic Forum, this two-hour webinar marks the launch of the second WTO-WEF TradeTech report.

The event will start with opening remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General, World Trade Organization, and Børge Brende, President, World Economic Forum. There will then be five 20-minute panel discussions covering policy areas highlighted in the report for further TradeTech adoption.

Using technology to enhance global trade

‘TradeTech’ is the set of technologies that enables global trade to become more efficient, inclusive and sustainable. It offers numerous possibilities, from trade facilitation to efficiency gains and reduced costs, to greater transparency and resilience of supply chains.

The webinar will present the key findings of the report. It also offers a unique opportunity to hear from experts on how trade agreements can be leveraged to support trade digitalisation and wide-scale adoption of TradeTech.

The journey towards frictionless trade: the case for digital standards

André Simha, who is also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the DCSA, will take part in the fourth panel: ‘Global interoperability of data models for trade documents and platforms’.

Moderated by Ziyang Fan, Head, Digital Trade, World Economic Forum, the panel will also include Marcos Allende López, CTO, LACChain, and Hannah Nguyen, Director, Digital Ecosystems, ICC Digital Standards Initiative.

As the only panellist representing the container shipping industry, André will explain how open-source standards are helping to increase visibility into container shipping events and processes, reduce digital friction thus streamlining international shipping and trade.

Using the electronic Bill of Lading (eBL) as an example, André will also highlight the urgency of switching from paper-based to digitalised processes, and explain how governments and banks can help to speed up this transition.

About MSC eBL

MSC launched its own innovative eBL solution in April 2021. MSC eBL enables supply chain stakeholders to transmit and process this important trade document electronically, helping to make operations more efficient, secure, sustainable and cost-effective – particularly in light of COVID-19 related challenges.

>> Read press release: MSC Introduces New Electronic Bill of Lading for Customers Worldwide Using Wave BL’s Platform.