By Benadetta Chiwanda Mia:
With digital advancements taking shape and businesses expanding their reach using digital platforms, experts have challenged governments and the academia in Africa to do more research on digital advancements.
Findings would guide policies to effective utilisation of these spaces according to the commentators.
This comes as countries like Malawi, who are signatories to the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, are preparing for the implementation of the Digital Trade Protocol, a component under the agreement, aimed at improving access to international markets by local businesses.
However, this requires countries to establish policies to guide implementation of the protocol
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Trade facilitation expert Shyret Nyabeze observed that most of the data and research that governments use and base their regulatory policies and frameworks on is researched from outside the continent.
As such, Nyabeze said recommendations that are provided are on where the research is coming up and, therefore, do not provide home-grown solutions.
“We need local researchers and the academia to play a pivotal role in terms of identifying the issues that relate to the African context, in terms of supporting decision making and policy making with prerequisite research as the people that actually support the digital landscape,” Nyabeze said.
ICT Association of Malawi President Clarence Gama emphasised the importance of learning from the global community if Malawi and Africa were to advance digital trade.
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“Digital on its own is a global conversation. How we are trading on the digital platform in Malawi and how others are doing it, although there might be slight differences, but I do think how you are trading online is a universal conversation,” Gama said.
