GENEVA (Sputnik) — Access to data has become more important than access to energy resources, but it desperately lacks multilateral regulations and governance, Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, the director of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), said Friday.
"If you look at how important access to data has become in terms of the competitiveness, it is more important than energy, which is something that we would have invaded another country for 200 years ago… But when we talk about access to data, it is completely ungoverned today," Makiyama said on the sidelines of the WTO Public Forum.
According to the ECIPE head, digitalization has a profound impact on today's global trade, as it has become the main way to sell and deliver products. Therefore, the multilateral regulation of digital business within the framework of the WTO is paramount.
"It is striking how much of the benefit is coming from purely unilateral reforms of the countries," he stressed.
The WTO's largest annual outreach event is running from September 30 to October 2, supporting the official title this year of "Trade works!" The main topics for discussion are trade as a driving force for development, the reduction of inequality between the rich and the poor, and political and economic stability.
