eTrade for all Newsletter

Dear all,

Welcome to the final newsletter of 2025. Over the past year, we witnessed how the infrastructure of trade is increasingly going digital. December brought additional resources along those lines.

The UN Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation 2025 points to solid progress. Digital trade facilitation continues to advance globally, yet uneven implementation, particularly in cross-border paperless trade, e-commerce and green measures, risks widening digital trade divides.

UN Trade and Development Report On the Brink – Trade, finance and the reshaping of the global economy highlights that services, digital delivery and AI are reshaping trade, while investment and capabilities remain highly concentrated and at risk of deepening North-South asymmetries.

Nearly 90% of world trade is now shaped by non-tariff measures, most linked to standards, which have emerged as new gatekeepers of digital integration, according to the World Bank’s World Development Report 2025: Standards for Development.

At the same time, rapid growth in e-commerce and AI is outpacing many countries’ current capacity to measure, govern and fully benefit from these transformations. UNCTAD released a Global e-commerce value database, whose figures indicate that e-commerce is growing faster than GDP, but persistent data gaps continue to constrain effective policymaking.

The World Bank’s Digital Progress and Trends Report 2025: Strengthening AI Foundations highlights a stark divide: most innovations remain concentrated in high-income countries. Yet, a promising trend is emerging, as low- and middle-income countries are actively adopting smaller and localized AI solutions. In mid-2025, more than 40% of ChatGPT’s global traffic originated in middle-income countries, led by Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Viet Nam.

ITU’s State of Broadband 2025 Report notes that the digital divide has evolved beyond access, increasingly reflecting gaps in affordability, skills and participation in the digital economy.

At the regional level, the African Development Bank’s Africa’s AI Productivity Gain: Pathways to Labour Efficiency, Economic Growth and Inclusive Transformation Report finds that if, developed and deployed inclusively, AI could generate up to US$1 trillion in additional GDP by 2035, nearly one-third of Africa’s current output.

In December, the UN launched the Digital Cooperation Portal, a new platform designed to accelerate collective action on the Global Digital Compact.

Lastly, the UN General Assembly High-level meeting on WSIS+20 in its outcome document, reaffirms that connectivity, digital skills and trustworthy AI governance as essential to inclusive development and economic participation.

Discover our dedicated sections below.

We also would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy and peaceful start to the New Year.

Enjoy the read!