The 16th Policy Actions for COVID-19 Economic Recovery (PACER) Dialogue on “Digitizing trade in the new normal” discussed benefits of trade digitization and sustaining supply chains in the new normal. Over 100 government officials from Southeast Asia and the People’s Republic of China participated in the Dialogue, sharing country experience on digitizing trade policies and solutions taken to mitigate the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and accelerate recovery and rejuvenation.

The 16th PACER Dialogue aimed to:

• promote improved understanding of policies that can accelerate digitizing trade and sustain supply chains in the post COVID-19 new normal;
• disseminate global practices and lessons including adopting Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR) to promote efficiency, consistency, and coherence in the modernization and harmonization of legislation related to electronic documentation;
• provide a platform for policy makers, development planners, and trade practitioners to share knowledge and experience and collaboratively learn from each other; and,
• call to action: encourage ASEAN member states to study the recent experience of Bahrain and Singapore in their domestic adoption of the MLETR, engage with relevant stakeholders, including industry, and ADB, and consider enabling domestic legal environment for paperless trade.