The UK government has announced a five-point digital strategy aimed at improving international digital trade for businesses and consumers and future-proofing the sector.
New secretary of state for international trade, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, announced the strategy during a speech at London Tech Week’s Global Leaders Innovation Summit today (20 September).
During the speech, Trevelyan emphasised the relevance of international digital trade for the UK. The digital sector contributed £150.6bn to the national economy in 2019 and the government is working with an estimate that digital transformation investments may bring $6.8tn to the economy between 2020 and 2023, she said.
“As we recover from Covid, free trade and enterprise are going to be vital,” said Trevelyan. “The UK has so much to offer the global marketplace. We are the second-largest services exporter in the world. We are one of the most innovative economies, exporting most of our services digitally.
“This five-point plan is rightly ambitious, but one we are fast delivering through our independent trade policy.”
The digital trade plan aims to capitalise on that promise by helping businesses to reach a wider consumer base by selling online and boosting efficiency by trading remotely, thus making the supply of services more resilient to disruption, said Trevelyan. The government noted that the ability to connect remotely has mitigated the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the cost of supplying services.
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