Digital trade is rising in Africa. It brings about challenges and opportunities. Since digital trade is an inevitable trend, policymakers must address challenges while use it for development in Africa. According to the opinion, concerns of digital trade mainly derive from the following perspectives: •Digital trade which favours skilled labour will sacrifice the interests of developing countries for the benefit of developed countries; •Digital trade, especially amounts of data collected by large e-commerce platform will lead to anticompetitive issues and market concentration; •Digital trade could be used by international companies to reduce taxable income through transfer pricing; • New technologies brought by digital trade will reduce demand for labour-intensive manufacturing. The opinion argues that digital trade provides various benefits for Africa: • Digital trade can help small, and medium-sized enterprises in Africa to access foreign markets and provide services to support their exports; • Digital trade can help boosting intra-regional trade; • Digital trade is also beneficial to consumer welfare, which provides access or possibilities to new digital products, goods and services. To utilize digital trade for development in Africa, national and international governance are necessary. At national level, some African countries have utilized the UNCTAD’s “eTrade for ALL” initiative and resources of the International Trade Centre to leverage digital trade for development. Whereas, African countries must develop appropriate regulatory governance to address abovementioned challenges in relation to data-sharing, competition regulations on e-commerce platforms. Some challenges of digital trade require international solutions. However, the international governance at multilateral level, especially under the WTO framework seems impossible. But a regional approach may more easily find its way. The opinion suggests that the African Continental Free Trade Area will serve as a platform for creating digital market in Africa and cooperation over relevant issues.

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ICTSD