The Business Contribution to Development and Safe Trade UN Economic Commission for Europe Second International Forum on Trade Facilitation, 15 May 2003 Patrick de Smedt Chairman, Microsoft EMEA

Overview “No nation was ever ruined by trade.” Benjamin Franklin The twin pillars of business support:  Developing markets  Creating a safe trading environment

Developing Markets – Overview Types of industry support: Foreign direct investmentSkills gap Solution development Open standards

Developing Markets – Direct investment  More than just money at stake  OECD has identified many valuable spill-over effects  A few recent examples:  Renault – €230 million in Russia  Bayer – €3 billion in China  Microsoft – €80 million in China – European Microsoft Innovation Centre – Microsoft Research Cambridge  Partner ecosystem

Developing markets – Addressing the skills gap  Skills gap impairs growth worldwide  Career Space: public/private initiative to develop academic guidelines  WEF Digital Divide Task Force  NEPAD

Developing markets – Support for open standards  XML, web services  Streamlining customs operations  UNeDocs and Microsoft technology support  Opportunity for SMEs and developing countries

Developing Markets – Enabling solutions  Technology enables market development  Thaigem.com – Thai gem sales  Everythingaboutwater.com – Indian water sales  Dubai – eMirsal Customs On-line Service  Czech customs project  Entirely new private network  80% of customs declarations electronic  First Eastern European link to NCTS

Trade safety – Overview Key business issues for improved trade safety: Supply chain security management Export control regimes Piracy and counterfeiting Safe and trustworthy computing

Trade safety – Piracy and counterfeiting  Pirates and counterfeiters support many types of illegal activities  IP theft – illegal software rates:  36% worldwide  34% in EU  63% in Eastern Europe  Industry action plan:  Public awareness campaigns  Education Programs  Joint efforts with Government Regulators

Trade safety – Safe computing  Safe trading requires safe and secure computing  The Microsoft response  “Trustworthy Computing is computing that is as available, reliable and secure as electricity, water services and telephony”  Four pillars of TWC: reliability, security, privacy and business integrity  Universal Postal Union Project: secure digital signatures leading to safer trade  Great security will increase trade safety and expand consumer confidence in trade and development

Trade safety – Supply chain security  Supply chain security critical in the modern trans-border economy  New technologies help  ‘Smart’ shipping containers  Shipping content tracking software  Public/private partnerships improve security and customs efficiencies

Trade safety – Export Control Regimes  The realities of a post 9/11 world  New rules should be multilateral and transparent  Remember history – the flawed attempt to control encryption in the 1990s  Working together to find the best balance: Security vs. efficient trading

Conclusions  Industry has an important role  Developing markets improves local conditions and expands trade  Trade safety is vital to the continued trust and support of the free trade system  More than just trade – all these efforts help bring developing countries into the global economy

Thank You