UN Executive for Asia: Paperless Trade System May Bring $250Bln to ‘Big Eurasia’

A common paperless trade system will add strength to market integration within the "Big Eurasia" and generate some $250 billion worth of revenue, the head of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) told Sputnik on Saturday.

VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik) — ESCAP is spearheading a regional arrangement, called the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific, which will be open for signature for a year, starting next October.

"We are promoting the common harmonized paperless trade system, which we believe will result in a gain of about $250 billion, if countries agree on paperless trade," ESCAP Executive Secretary Shamshad Akhtar said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

Akhtar said the arrangement was a "very well conceptualized" market integration process, which relied on dismantling the trade barriers, as well as promoting seamless connectivity in the region, which was basically extending Asia's highway and broad band network.