We're 17th - and aiming for gold

by RICHARD BRADDELL

New Zealand was ranked 17th in the world for e-commerce readiness in a recent survey by the Economist.

But the Government's e-commerce summit head, Sir Gil Simpson, says the country needs to move up the scale.

"There is no reason we cannot achieve a better ranking," he said.

"I'd like to think that if we cannot take the gold position off the United States, at least we can be in the silver or bronze place ahead of Sweden or Finland."

Australia ranked 16th.

Many of the recognised prerequisites for e-commerce, such as high numbers of web sites, secure server and commercial internet domain registrations, already existed, Sir Gil said.

The cost of using the internet here was relatively low, and New Zealanders had an excellent record of adapting to electronic technology such as eftpos and electronic banking.

"New Zealand has the potential to be one of those leaders if we apply ourselves now," Sir Gil said.

Wilson & Horton, publisher of the Herald, is one of the sponsors of the e-summit.

Programme details for e-summit