On April 16th, world internet conference Digital Silk Road Development Forum was held in Xi ‘an, Shaanxi. In addition to the opening ceremony and the main forum, world internet conference Member Representative Symposium, Cross-border E-commerce Competitiveness Assessment Seminar and Digital Silk Road Cross-border E-commerce Seminar were also held. Guests from international organizations, governments, enterprises, and academic circles conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions on three topics: "Building Silk Road by Digital Interconnection", "International Cooperation of Silk Road E-commerce" and "Digital Village and Sustainable Development".
The guests at the meeting said that with the deepening of global exchanges and cooperation, the importance of interconnection has become increasingly prominent. The Digital Silk Road has provided us with unprecedented opportunities and opened up new paths for technological innovation and economic growth. It is hoped that this forum will be used as a platform to seize good cooperation opportunities, strengthen dialogue and exchanges, deepen pragmatic cooperation, and jointly promote the high-quality development of digital Silk Road to a new stage.
E-commerce helps build a digital silk road.
The construction of the Digital Silk Road is an important measure to conform to the development trend of the digital economy era, an important contribution of China to the development and governance of the global digital economy, and an important part of building the "Belt and Road" with high quality.
In recent years, China has vigorously promoted the construction of the Digital Silk Road and actively expanded and deepened international cooperation. Li Qingshuang, vice president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that by October 2023, China had signed memorandums of cooperation on e-commerce with 30 countries and established bilateral cooperation mechanisms on e-commerce. Silk Road E-commerce has shown strong resilience and vitality and has become a golden business card for building the Belt and Road Initiative with high quality.
World internet conference Digital Silk Road Development Forum. Photo by Li Xiaoyin, China Netcom
At present, the century-old changes have accelerated the evolution, global trade and investment have slowed down, the international situation has undergone profound and complex changes, and the world has entered a new period of turmoil and change. As a new format and mode of e-commerce, cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly in recent years and has become a new engine and a new bright spot of global economic development.
The world internet conference Cross-border E-commerce Practice Case Collection (2024) released at this forum fully demonstrates the beneficial experience of governments at all levels, social organizations and all links in the industrial chain in promoting the healthy development of cross-border e-commerce, actively exploring and continuously innovating, and creating a good business environment, so as to promote cross-border e-commerce related entities around the world to learn from each other and complement each other’s advantages, and help to form a business environment that promotes the healthy development of cross-border e-commerce.
As one of the cases, the Silk Road Media E-commerce Trade Exchange Platform faces Central Asia and the Belt and Road region, and builds a communication matrix of "Silk Road Video Media+Silk Road Audio Media+Silk Road New Media" to promote the linkage with overseas media content. At the same time, relying on the technical support system of the media e-commerce platform, it builds a trade exchange platform, integrates resources from various regions, and actively promotes international exchanges and cooperation.
Technology empowerment promotes inclusive sharing of digital dividends.
The changes in the world, the times and the history are unfolding in an unprecedented way, and the global digitalization, networking and intelligence are advancing in depth, which has brought a series of new challenges to human economic and social development. It is a common mission and task for all countries in the world to build a more inclusive and convenient digital society and make digital technology better benefit society and people all over the world.
In recent years, Internet technology has developed rapidly. However, there are still huge differences between developed and developing countries, between urban and rural areas, and between regions. There are still about 2.6 billion people in the world who do not have access to the Internet. Houlin zhao, former Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, called on all parties to work together to eliminate digital poverty and digital divide and enhance human welfare, especially to make better use of technologies such as 5G, big data and artificial intelligence, eliminate the "access gap", "use gap" and "capability gap" and jointly build a community of cyberspace destiny.
As an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Digital Silk Road has played an important role in enhancing digital connectivity and community capacity building, bridging the digital divide and promoting sustainable development in the past 10 years. Besik Buggiani Shvili, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Georgian Development Foundation, firmly believes that the Digital Silk Road Initiative has brought great opportunities for multilateral cooperation and prosperity.
The achievements of digital technology development should be shared by people all over the world, so as to promote regional coordinated and sustainable development through digitalization, which is also the proper meaning of building the digital Silk Road.
At present, the new infrastructure of 5G is accelerating development on a global scale. Si Han, president of Global Association for Mobile Communications Greater China, said that along the Digital Silk Road, the development speed of markets in different regions is different. Developed 5G markets, such as China, North America and Gulf countries, are in a leading position in 5G applications. However, in emerging markets, 5G has just started and has huge development space.
On the other hand, regarding the application of digital technology in emergency rescue, Sterling, Personal Envoy of the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross for China Affairs and Director of the East Asian Regional Representative Office, listed some situations, such as finding missing persons through digital matching; Mine detection through the combination of artificial intelligence and unmanned aerial vehicle; Using satellite technology and artificial intelligence to monitor the impact of natural disasters such as floods and droughts, so as to give more accurate material assistance; Use drones, infrared cameras, etc. to search for mineral deposits.
World internet conference Digital Silk Road Development Forum. Photo by Li Xiaoyin, China Netcom
Work hand in hand to build a community of cyberspace destiny
This year marks the beginning of a new decade to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative. World internet conference held the Digital Silk Road Development Forum for the first time, which is an innovative move to promote digital technology to build the "Belt and Road" with high quality. It aims to inherit the spirit of Silk Road, gather the wisdom of all parties, and actively build a new platform to promote global exchanges and cooperation.
Digital Silk Road is not only a channel for trade and economic exchanges, but also a link for cultural communication. Yeddin, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of Myanmar, said that the Digital Silk Road shows great potential for transforming social and economic development, and at the same time expresses the common vision of promoting economic growth, cultural understanding and regional development through technology.
Educational exchanges have built a solid bridge for the people of all countries along the "Belt and Road" and witnessed the unremitting pursuit of interconnection and cultural mutual learning by people of all countries. In order to promote the combination of digital technology and excellent traditional culture, and promote digital cultural exchange, the Ministry of Education of China initiated the implementation of the national education digitalization strategy, launched the national public service platform for smart education, and built it into the world’s largest online learning platform, with more than 2.8 billion visitors and users covering more than 200 countries and regions around the world.
At the forum, UN Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua said that the UN will adopt a global digital compact at its future summit in September this year as a framework for the principle of digital sharing. It will support collaborative work in digital progress and cooperation, including active interconnection, data governance and digital risk reduction.
Dinggumuzi Bodhi, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology and Postal Express Service of Zimbabwe, said that the digital Silk Road has provided unprecedented opportunities for promoting cross-border cooperation and promoting sustainable development. By strengthening digital interconnection and cooperation, a more inclusive world will be built, which will open the way for the common prosperity of future generations and have a far-reaching impact on promoting the building of a community of human destiny. (Written by: Chen Jindan Mi Jiangyan))
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