Pan Asian e-Commerce Alliance

2 - 3 August 2001 : Pan-Asian E-Commerce Alliance Hold Summit in Mainland China for the First Time

The Pan Asian e-Commerce Alliance (PAA) held its 5th Steering Committee in Beijing on 2 and 3 August 2001. The meeting was held in the China International Electronic Commerce Building among 5 founding members (Infoshare CIECC, KTNET, SNS, TRADELINK AND TRADE-VAN) and TEDI as the observer.

Significant progress was reported in the following areas:

• 1. Secure Cross-border Transaction Services

  Documentation standards developed for the upcoming test on reliable and secure messaging. The test will be conducted between September 2001 to February 2002 for implementation in March 2002.

• 2. PKI Mutual Recognition

  The interoperability tests were successful. A draft "PAA Certificate Policy and Accreditation Processes" was prepared by Arthur Andersen for members' further discussion and adoption. It is expected that the mutual recognition of members' certificate will be ready for the start of the Secure Cross Border Transaction Service Pilot in early 2002.

• 3. Pan-Asian Portal

  A Pan Asian Traders Directory mockup was reviewed and discussed in the meeting. It is expected that Traders Directory will be rolled out in the later half of 2001 as the first phase of this Pan Asian collaboration.

• 4. Cargo Tracking Service

  A Cargo Tracking Working Group was set up to incorporate cargo tracking functions into the Secure Cross-border transaction services.

Mr. Wang JianGuo, Deputy Director of Infoshare CIECC, said "We are happy to host this Steering Committee Meeting at our premises as this follows our successful APEC e-Commerce Symposium in February at the same place. The PAA founding members are leaders in the field of e-commerce in the Asian region. With our combined strength in technical development, experience and proven track record, it is expected that there will be accelerated development of smooth cross-border e-commerce".

PAA initiative was formed in mid-2000 comprising the following founding members:

• Infoshare CIECC, China International Electronic Commerce Center of China
• KTNET or Korea Trade Network
• SNS or Singapore Network Services
• TRADELINK or TRADELINK Electronic Commerce Limited of Hong Kong, SAR
• TRADE-VAN or TRADE-VAN information Services Chinese Taipei