World Trade Report, 2020

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has released the World Trade Report, 2020.

Key highlights

• The report by the World Trade Organisation analyses the adoption of government policies so as to foster the technological progress and digital innovation.
• The report highlights that due to covid-19 crisis, 115 countries have adopted new digital and industrial strategies.
• These digital and industrial strategies would boost the transition towards digital economy.
• The strategies includes tax breaks that facilitate the digital innovation, policies to address access to the data, technological hub that maximise the knowledge diffusion.

Key findings

• As per the report, World Trade Organisation has supported the innovation by eliminating tariffs under the Information Technology Agreement.

• It highlights that the Asian power houses comprising of the countries like India, China and Japan have contributed around 40% of the world research and development in 2017. This contribution has surged from  8.2 % in the 1996.
• The report states that, Brain gain effects exist in Russia and China, But it does not exist in India.
• The report also states that the online platforms like Alibaba and MercadoLibre have assumed significant growth since the COVID-19 pandemic has started. MercadoLibre reported 70.5% increase in its revenue in the first quarter of 2020 while, Alibaba reported 22% increase in sales.

World Trade Report

This report is published annually with an aim to boost the understanding regarding the trends in trade, issues and policies. The 2020 version of the report focuses on technology and innovation policies . It also explains the role of the World Trade Organisation in the changing world.

Brain gain

It is the increase in number of intelligent and trained professionals that enters the country that provides greater opportunities.