The B2B Cluster is currently developing the business case for paperless trade and private sector exchanges to enable digital trade across the Commonwealth.

This includes the following initiatives:

Facilitating the transition to paperless trade across the Commonwealth and establishing a Commonwealth Working Group on Legal Reform and Digitalisation:


Supporting Commonwealth policymakers and private sector organisations through capacity building for advanced manufacturing:

Connectivity Agenda   View all clusters

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In 2022 we released the report Quantitative Analysis of the Move to Paperless Trade, which attempts to quantify the potential impact of legal reform to enable the use of the so-called “transferable records” on Commonwealth trade.

There are clear economic and political imperatives to accelerating digital trade facilitation and legal reform for digitalisation, with potential total benefits of nearly US$1.2 trillion to Commonwealth trade by 2026.

Our new research covers 54 diverse Commonwealth economies and presents a picture of the potential for cost reductions and trade increases as a result of the introduction of legal reform, to enable the use of electronic transferable records across the Commonwealth.

Explore the report

Quick facts

Commonwealth bilateral trade

19
Research by the Commonwealth Secretariat indicates bilateral trade costs between Commonwealth partners are, on average, 19 per cent lower compared to those for other country pairs.

 

Global leaders for doing business

1
Two Commonwealth countries are global leaders for doing business: New Zealand and Singapore are ranked 1st and 2nd in the world on the World Bank’s overall Ease of Doing Business Rankings for 2019.

 

Business environment

10
India, Kenya and Rwanda are among the top reformers in terms of business environments – all three member states are included in the top 10 most improved countries on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Rankings for 2019.