THE ARAB MONETARY FUND AND THE ARAB TRADE FINANCING PROGRAM ARE ORGANIZING A HIGH-LEVEL "REMOTE" TECHNICAL WORKSHOP ON "DIGITIZING TRADE FINANCE OPERATIONS"

by **claud39** Mon May 31, 2021 10:28 am

THE ARAB MONETARY FUND AND THE ARAB TRADE FINANCING PROGRAM ARE ORGANIZING A HIGH-LEVEL "REMOTE" TECHNICAL WORKSHOP ON "DIGITIZING TRADE FINANCE OPERATIONS"

2021-05-30

Within the framework of the keenness of the Arab Monetary Fund and the Arab Trade Financing Program to support the efforts of member states for digital transformation in a number of related fields, the Fund and the program are organizing a high-level technical workshop "remotely" on May 30 and 31, 2021 on "digitizing trade finance" with the participation of A wide range of high-level representatives from the concerned authorities in the Arab countries represented in each of the central banks and Arab monetary institutions, the ministries of economy and trade, the chambers of commerce, and the national agencies of the Arab Trade Finance Program.

The workshop will be attended by experts from the Arab Monetary Fund, the Arab Trade Financing Program, and a number of regional and international institutions, including the International Chamber of Commerce, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, and the Regional Foundation for Arab Payments Clearing and Settlement (BANNA).

The workshop discusses a number of issues of importance in the digitalization of trade finance, including macroeconomic gains, innovations in the field of digitalization of trade finance, the legal and regulatory framework for unified rules for banking payment obligations, arbitration and settlement of digital trade finance disputes, digital transformation of trade finance and implications for the Arab region. And a number of other topics of interest.

The workshop comes in light of the major role that international trade plays, especially in countries with emerging economies and developing countries, in promoting economic growth, creating job opportunities, reducing poverty levels and enabling governments to achieve sustainable development goals. The workshop aims to explore opportunities to benefit from digital transformation in bridging part of the trade finance gap, which rose from about $ 1.5 trillion in 2019 before the spread of the Corona pandemic to at least $ 3.4 trillion in the aftermath of the pandemic, according to estimates by the Asian Development Bank and the International Chamber of Commerce. And the challenges that this poses for small and medium-sized enterprises, in light of the difficulty of 45 percent of them having access to trade finance facilities.

The importance of the workshop also derives from the need to develop trade finance operations in the Arab region, which are still done in a traditional way, and go through many procedures that require paper documents, which reduces their efficiency and increases the time and cost required to complete them, which prevents a wide range of Customers for these services.

Based on the above, digital transformation in trade finance represents one of the most important developments that will help develop traditional financing mechanisms and increase the efficiency of operations aimed at facilitating international Arab trade, especially in light of the prominent technologies in the context of the fourth industrial revolution that includes blockchain technology and artificial intelligence, And big data, which helps banks to more accurately identify their customers, and facilitate all procedures related to trade finance operations, in a way that helps reduce costs and increase levels of financial inclusion, especially for small and medium enterprises.

Exploring opportunities for digital transformation in financing Arab trade would help bring about a tangible increase in the volume of intra-Arab trade, which still constitutes low levels around the level of 10 percent of the total foreign trade of Arab countries compared to about 70 percent of the percentage of intra-Arab trade in the countries of the Union. European.

https://www.amf.org.ae/ar/content/%D8%B5%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%82%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A-%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%AC-%D8%AA%D9%85%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%B8%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%B4%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84-%D9%81%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%89-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%A8%D9%8F%D8%B9%D8%AF