Making Digital Platforms Work for Asia and the Pacific

The coronavirus(COVID-19)pandemic has weighed heavily on health and economic systems worldwide;it has also severely disrupted Asia’s cross-border trade and economic activities,and exposed the vulnerabilities of global supply chains.Despite this,Asia still immensely benefited from open trade and investment,with the region’s export-driven growth strategy and attractiveness to foreign direct investment(FDI)lifting millions out of poverty over the past half a century.The ongoing pandemic has also highlighted the benefits of rapid technological progress,digitalization,and increasing the services trade to bringing the global economy even closer together and providing new forms of global linkages.Intensifying these structural changes may be the basis of robust,resilient,and sustainable economic recovery.Moreover,the crisis created an opportunity for greater global and regional cooperation in order to contain and suppress COVID-19,strengthened global supply chains for essential commodities(including food,medical supplies,and vaccines),and made the world safer from natural hazards and pandemics by investing in projects with high social impact and economic returns.