Mekong Institute (MI) held a series of e-workshops titled “Final Project Evaluation and Rural E-Commerce Policy Development” via Zoom from July 1 to 10, 2020. Structured as an online group discussion with MI officers facilitating remotely from the MI headquarters, stakeholders from Cambodia, P.R. China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam presented the status, as well as the institutional, policy, and capacity building support needed to strengthen e-commerce in their respective countries.  

Mr. Than Win Aung, one of 60 e-workshop participants, said that MI’s engaging sessions helped increase awareness of the benefits of rural e-commerce. He added that “MI’s e-workshop was a cost-effective and efficient approach in bringing people together to advance rural e-commerce in Myanmar.”

Each of the country’s three-hour online session was co-facilitated by partners and local coordinators on the ground to ensure participative knowledge sharing. Findings from the workshop will be consolidated into a policy paper, which MI will submit to the governments of Lancang-Mekong countries. The paper will also include priority measures for the development of a comprehensive and country-specific policy framework for sustainable rural e-commerce.

“We are consolidating best practices to promote rural e-commerce policy development in Lancang-Mekong countries,” Mr. Madhurjya Kumar Dutta, MI’s Trade and Investment Facilitation Director, said during the opening sessions of each e-workshop.

The online activity was conducted under MI’s “Action Research on Rural E-commerce Development in Lancang-Mekong Countries” project, which is implemented in collaboration with Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce and supported by the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund.