London, UK, 23 January 2020 - NTT DATA, the leading IT services provider, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Intent encouraging the realization of trade digitalisation at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Trade Digitalisation Forum at Davos 2020 in Switzerland. The forum was co-hosted by ICC and the Singaporean governmental body Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), with international corporations joining to discuss the establishment of multilateral rules to promote trade digitalisation.
As various digital trade platforms emerge around the world, ensuring interoperability between these has become a major challenge. The ICC forum aims to address this challenge by promoting the international standardization of these platforms, the key issue for companies who are engaged in digitalization of their trade flows.
NTT DATA has developed an international trade data-sharing platform called TradeWaltz which uses blockchain technology to digitize trade documents and ensure the integrity of the electronic data they contain. Its distinctive feature is neutrality in data ownership, which enables more comprehensive use of data accumulated by individual companies across other companies and country borders.
In 2017, NTT DATA established a trade consortium in Japan comprising members from a cross-section of industries including banks, insurance companies, logistics companies and shipping companies. NTT DATA had previously conducted a series of trials in partnership with the Singapore government and Thailand’s Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking to verify the feasibility of digitizing trade documents, while at the same time reviewing the benefits of the TradeWaltz platform.
Yo Honma, NTT DATA Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “TradeWaltz has been built with input from consortium companies from a variety of industries who share a mutual interest in paperless international trade. NTT DATA and the consortium members aim to digitalize international trade across the world, and to encourage stakeholders to conduct more seamless international trade. This in turn is aimed at accelerating international trade transactions amongst countries with the maximum utilization of the Economic Partnership Agreement and the Free Trade Agreements signed between Japan and a number of other countries.”
Going forward, NTT DATA will leverage its services to actively support smooth trade with the aim of full-scale digitization of trade transactions.
TradeWaltz™ is a trademark of NTT DATA Corporation in Japan.
All other product names, company names, and organization names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.