Home / Global exchanges
China signed its first cross-border e-commerce cooperation agreement with Turkey as a way to strengthen its voice in the global new trade rules and deal with challenges from the TPP.
The agreement was inked on Nov 14 under the witness of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan.
According to the agreement, China and Turkey will construct a cross-border e-commerce platform and jointly work out the transaction standards, business credit, and online payment systems for cross-border e-commerce business.
China will offer knowledge and skill training for e-commerce business people in Turkey. The two countries will also cooperate in Internet finance.
Cross-border e-commerce is a new pattern of trading and gives China a basis for bilateral or multilateral agreements with other economies. It is an effective measure China can use to ease the impact of the TPP and help it establish a voice in international trade rules, said Wang Shutong, founder and CEO of DHgate.com, an e-commerce website that connects domestic small and medium enterprises with overseas buyers.
As the two countries will work together to draw up the cross-border e-commerce transaction standards, as well as the business credit and online payment systems, China can actually export its e-commerce standards to Turkey, said Wang.
Considering Turkey's important role in the Belt and Road Initiative, this move will help China's e-commerce standards and regulations go global, she added.
Turkey is a good option for China to inaugurate cooperation in cross-border e-commerce, thanks to its important geographic position joining the continents of Europe and Asia and its role as an important transportation and trade hub among Asia, Europe, and Africa. In addition, it is one of the fastest developing e-commerce countries.
In 2014 one third of Turkey's population shopped online and its online transaction volume reached $18 billion.
DHgate.com will establish the cross-border e-commerce platform.
