2023 Incheon Law & Business Forum “From Documents to Data: Legal and Commercial Solutions for Digital Trade”

UNCITRAL RCAP held the 3rd Incheon Law & Business Forum (ILBF) themed “From Documents to Data: Legal and Commercial Solutions for Digital Trade,” from 11 – 12 September 2023 at the Holiday Inn Incheon Songdo, Republic of Korea. The Forum was co-hosted with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Korea and Incheon Metropolitan City, Korea Legislation Research Institute and other partners. This two-day regional Forum brought together representatives from the law, business, and public sectors to discuss the promotion of law reform and business development in support of digital trade across the Asia Pacific, with special attention on UNCITRAL instruments.

The ILBF included the following six panels: 

1. Business Track 1: Trade Finance and Fintech; 
2. Business Track 2: Transport and Logistics – MLETR Implementation; 
3. Business Track 3: Transport and Logistics – Paperless Trade; 
4. Law Track 1: Trade in Data;
5. Law Track 2: Digital Trade Agreements; and
6. Law Track 3: Roundtable on Digital Trade Law Reform in Asia and the Pacific, along with coffee/lunch highlights focusing on recent topics and a special event.

E-Flyer

Programme (English)

Programme (Chinese)

Speaker profiles

PROGRAMME (DAY 1)

Opening Ceremony

• Mr. Koo, Sang-yeop, Deputy Minister for Legal Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Republic of Korea 
• Mr. Yoo, Jeong-bok, Mayor of Incheon Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea
• Ms. Anna Joubin-Bret, Secretary, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

Keynote Speeches

• Dr. Eiman Al-Mutairi, Vice Minister of Commerce and CEO of the National Competitiveness Center (NCC), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia    
• Mr. Satvinder Singh, Deputy Secretary-General for the ASEAN Economic Community, the ASEAN Secretariat

Business Track 1: MLETR Implementation in Trade Finance and Fintech 

Moderator: Mr. Luca Castellani, Legal Officer, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

Speakers:

• Mr. Steven Beck, Head, Trade and Supply Chain Finance, Private Sector Operations Department, Asian Development Bank (ADB)
• Mr. Phattharaphon Ratanasuvan, SVP, Trade Finance Product, Bangkok Bank PCL, Thailand “Thailand Digital Trade Transformation”
• Ms. Shafaq Al Kooheji, Head of Payments Services, The Benefit Company B.S.C, Kingdom of Bahrain “Accredited Trust Service Provider (TSP) - Implementation Journey”
• Ms. Lucy Wong, Advisor, Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub (BIS Innovation Hub), Hong Kong SAR “Project Dynamo”

Business Track 2: MLETR Implementation in Transport and Logistics 

Moderator: Ms. Khanit Phatong, Executive Advisor and Chief Information Officer, Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), Thailand

Speakers

• Mr. Reiji Ishida, Deputy Director, Trade Promotion Division, Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan ”Approaches to Trade Digitalization by the Japanese Government”
• Mr. Ren Yuh Kay, Assistant Director, TradeTrust, Digital Utilities Cluster, Sectoral Transformation Group, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Singapore “Trade Digitalisation: TradeTrust – Transform the Way You Trade”
• Mr. Satoru Someya, Executive Officer, COO, CMO and Head of Global & Alliance Business Department and Marketing & Sales dept., TradeWaltz Inc., Japan “MLETR Adapting (eBL) Legislation and Digital Trade Platform Development by “TradeWaltz” and Government in Japan”
• Ms. Marina Comninos, Co-Head, ICE Digital Trade (IDT) “Digitising Trade: the Practical Benefits & Challenges of Legal Change”

Business Track 3: MLETR Implementation in Paperless Trade

Moderator: Ms. Soo Hyun Kim, Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN/ESCAP)

Speakers:

• Ms. Juan Zhai, General Manager, Legal Department, China Merchants Energy Shipping Co., Ltd. (CMES), China “CMES’s Practice in Paperless Trade and the Desire for Localization Legislation of MLETR”
• Mr. Craig Alan Laabs, Head of Global Trade, Coupang Corp., Republic of Korea “Current Retail Business State of Paperless Trade in Korea”
• Ms. Anastasiya Alexandrovskaya, Senior Legal Expert, International Transport Activity Division, Legal Department, JSC Russian Railways, Russian Federation “Rail and Multimodal Electronic Transport Documents, Further Development of Consignment Notes with Additional Function as Letter of Credit”
• Ms. Andrea Tang, Head of International Trade and Law Unit, International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) “Fostering Digitalisation in the Logistics Supply Chain”

Coffee Highlight: The Use of NFT for Electronic Bills of Lading

Moderator: Dr. Hyeon Kyun Lee, Senior Research Fellow, Korean Society of Law / Adjunction Professor, Hannam University School of Law, Republic of Korea

Speakers:

• Ms. Chaemee Kim, CDO, Executive Director, Korea Trade Network (KTNET), Republic of Korea “X of Next Trade Facilitation”
• Mr. Chandler Yoon, Head of D.X TEAM, Posco International, Republic of Korea “Consigner's Insight - to All the Cross Industries”

Concluding Remarks for Day 1

• Ms. Athita Komindr, Head, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (UNCITRAL RCAP)

Special Event: Launch of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and E-business (UN/CEFACT) White Paper on Transfer of MLETR-compliant Titles

• Ms. Kamola Khusnutdinova, Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) / Secretary, United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and E-business (UN/CEFACT)
• Mr. Ren Yuh Kay, Assistant Director, TradeTrust, Digital Utilities Cluster, Sectoral Transformation Group, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Singapore “MLETR-Compliant Title Transfer - White Paper”

PROGRAMME (DAY 2)

Law Track 1: Trade in Data

Moderator: Mr. Kyoungjin Choi, Law Professor and Director of Center for AI Data and Policy, Gachon University, Republic of Korea

Speakers:

• Dr. Jacob Lee, Group Leader, Logistics Contract Group, Samsung SDS, Republic of Korea “e-B/L Drive & Legislation”
• Mr. Yong Lu, Executive Director of Shanghai Data Service Provider Association, Vice President & Mr. Lin Zihan, Researcher, Shanghai Data Exchange, China
• Ms. Bo Kyung Kim, Director, Data Promotion Division, Artificial Intelligence Policy Bureau, Ministry of Science and ICT, Republic of Korea “Data Trading Policy in Korea”
• Mr. Atsushi Okada, Partner, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, Japan “Japan: AI Governance, IP Rights Protections, Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT)”

Law Track 2:  Digital Trade Agreements 

Moderator: Mr. Jae Sung Lee, Senior Legal Officer, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

Speakers:

• Mr. Ren Yuh Kay, Assistant Director, TradeTrust, Digital Utilities Cluster, Sectoral Transformation Group, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Singapore “Deeper Dive – Digital Economy Agreements”
• Ms. Alexandra Dawes, Counsellor (Economic), Australian Embassy Seoul, Australia “Digital Trade – Australia's Priorities and Approach”
• Ms. Laura Ho, Director, National Roadmap and Cross Border Rules, Digital Trade, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Malaysia “Digital Trade Agreements: Malaysia’s Journey”
• Mr. Junghyun Park, Partner, Lee & Ko, Republic of Korea “Digital Trade Agreements: Korea’s Experience”
• Mr. Sivaram Superamanian, Assistant Director, Digital Economy Division, The ASEAN Secretariat “ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA): ASEAN to Leap forward its Digital Economy and Unlock US$2 Tn by 2030”

Lunch Highlight: Environmental Impact of Paperless Trade

• Mr. Yann Duval, Chief of Trade Policy and Facilitation, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN/ESCAP) “The Impact of Digital Trade Facilitation / Paperless Trade on the Environment”
• Ms. Maria Teresa Pisani, Officer-in-charge, Trade Facilitation Section, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

Law Track 3: Roundtable on Digital Trade Law Reform and Promotion of UNCITRAL Texts in Asia and the Pacific

Facilitator: Mr. Luca Castellani, Legal Officer, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

Participants:

• Ms. Soo Hyun Kim, Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN/ESCAP) “Promoting Digital Trade”
• Ms. Tianmi Stilphen, Lead, Regulatory Affairs of ICC Digital Standards Initiative (ICC DSI), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) 
• Mr. Nigel Chin, Principal Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, Asian Development Bank (ADB)
• Ms. Vashti Maharaj, Adviser, Digital Trade Policy, The Commonwealth Secretariat “Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda – Roundtable on Digital Trade Law Reform and Promotion of UNCITRAL Texts in Asia and the Pacific”
• Mr. Milot Ahma, Counsel, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
• Mr. Andrea Ibba, Pacific E-commerce Coordinator, Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)
• Mr. Dominic Leong, Program Manager, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) “E-commerce and Digital Economy Technical Assistance”

Concluding Remarks and Way Forward

• Ms. Athita Komindr, Head, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (UNCITRAL RCAP)