BEIJING, Sept. 2-- APEC(Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) members should strengthen technical co-operation and exchanges to achieve paperless trading by 2015, a senior official of the organization said yesterday.

Tran Trong Toan, deputy executive director of the APEC Secretariat, was speaking at the 2005 APEC Symposium on the Assessment and Benchmark of Paperless Trading, which opened in Beijing yesterday.

He said it is important for member economies to share experiences on paperless trading, narrowing the gap between developed and developing members.

Paperless trading or E-commerce, improves trading efficiency and reduces costs.

There are wide disparities among APEC members in economic development, political situation, legislative environment and technical prowess, which are bottlenecks in the progress of the project, he said.

Toan said governments should play a key in promoting E-commerce.

His comments were echoed by Liu Junsheng, chairman of the APEC E-commerce Business Alliance.

"The implementation of paperless trading requires government support in legislation, standardization, security, policies and capital. Governments' role is essential, especially when the economies are not developed," Liu said.

China, an important member of the organization, attaches great importance to E-commerce, said Liao Xiaoqi, Chinese vice-minister of commerce.

The country unveiled the E-signature Law in April, which has improved the legal environment for E-commerce, Liao said.

In the meantime, e-commerce related provisions have been added during the revision of the laws on contracts, Customs and foreign trade, he added.

"Paperless trading has largely improved the working efficiency in China," Liao said, citing the example of Customs clearance.

"The process of Customs clearance for imports has reduced dramatically from 70 minutes to 2.5 minutes after implementing the project," he said.

To accelerate APEC trade liberalizations, leaders of member economies agreed at the 1998 meeting in Kuala Lumpur that paperless trading should be realized by the end of this year in developed economies, and by 2010 in developing economies. Region-wide usage is expected by 2015.Enditem

(Source: China Daily)