Pacific E-Commerce Initiative

E-commerce is one of the five priorities of the Pacific Aid-for-Trade Strategy 2020-2025, noting its potential to narrow distances and trade costs, and to promote diversification of Pacific economies.

In this COVID-19 era, digital trade has become even more important, given its ability to sustain economic activity whilst preserving social distancing. Even when lock-downs and border closures will be lifted, new online buying and selling habits are due to stay and it is therefore essential that Pacific businesses are well-equipped to face this new digital era to avoid the risk of falling behind.

It is against this background that Forum Islands Countries, development agencies, and donor partners joined forces to improve digital trade readiness in the Pacific. At a 2017 PIFS-UNCTAD-WTO Pacific E-commerce workshop, partners concurred on the need to lay solid analytical and policy foundations as a precondition to undertake truly transformative actions.

To support this determination, PIFS and its partners have developed national and regional E-commerce Assessments, and are in the process of developing a regional E-commerce Strategy and Roadmap which will define the Pacific consensus consensus on priority regional actions to promote digital trade readiness. Focus will then shift on implementation.

A Concept Note of the E-commerce Initiative is available here.

Our Reports

National Assessments

Cook Islands
Papua New Guinea (2020)

Federated States of Micronesia (2020)
Republic of Marshall Islands

Fiji (2020)
Samoa (2017)

Kiribati (2019)
Solomon Islands (2018)

Nauru (2021)
Tonga (2019)

Niue (2020)
Tuvalu (2019)

Palau
Vanuatu (2018)

Regional Assessments and Strategies

Pacific E-commerce Assessment (2020)
Pacific E-commerce Strategy and Roadmap (2021)