A humanoid robot is pictured at the second Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Nov. 23, 2023. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)
BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) --Themed "Digital Trade, Globa Access", the second Global Digital Trade Expo concluded on Monday in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province.
As the only national-level, international and professional exhibition with the theme of digital trade in China, this year's expo has attracted over 800 digital trade companies to participate, including more than 50 Fortune 500 companies and more than 50 companies listed on the global and national top 100 digital trade rankings.
The five-day expo showcased more than 100 cutting-edge technological products and services in the field of digital trade, presenting the latest trends in global digital trade and demonstrating the vigorous development in this field.
Besides, deals on 32 projects with a total value of over 155.8 billion yuan were reached at the expo.
According to the report on China's digital trade development released at the expo, from 2012 to 2022, the annual average growth rate of global digitally-delivered service exports was 6.1 percent, which was 1.6 percentage points higher than the annual average growth rate of global service exports during the same period.
Attendees pointed out that the swift progress of digital technology and the rapid growth of digital trade have encouraged both domestic and foreign companies to engage in industrial deployment and pursue cooperation, which injected new vitality into digital trade and opened up new space for trade development.
Besides, the continuous emergence of new technologies and applications in the Chinese market can be attributed to the continuous solid foundation of the country's digital industry, attendees said.
In 2022, China's digital economy reached 50.2 trillion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 10.3 percent, accounting for 41.5 percent of the country's GDP. China's data production reached 8.1 ZB, a year-on-year growth of 22.7 percent, accounting for 10.5 percent of the global total and ranking second in the world. As of June this year, the number of internet users in China reached 1.079 billion, with an internet coverage rate of 75.6 percent.
The growth of the digital industry has also led to the flourishing development of digital trade. Guo Tingting, Vice Minister of Commerce, stated that in recent years, China's digital trade has experienced significant growth and become an important pillar in building a strong trading nation.
According to Guo, China's digital service trade scale reached a historical high of 372.7 billion US dollars in 2022 and the import and export scale of cross-border e-commerce exceeded 2 trillion yuan for the first time. The telecommunications, computer, and information service trade in 2022 was approximately 124.2 billion US dollars, accounting for nearly one-third of China's digital service trade.
In terms of technological innovation, China ranked the 11th in global innovation performance in 2022, according to the Global Innovation Index published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. China also secured the top ranking globally for the number of invention patents granted in fields like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.
Zhang Xiangchen, deputy director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), said that China has made 'remarkable achievements ' in digital trade in his video speech. Zhang pointed out that China has become a global powerhouse in this field, demonstrating innovative approaches, technological progress, and the country's flourishing entrepreneurial ethos.
Notably, China is also committed to promoting a favorable digital business environment and turning digital trade into a new engine for global trade.
In pushing these goals, China has intensified efforts to strengthen exchanges and align digital rules and with Central Asian countries, SCO countries, and countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Data showed that the growth rate of cross-border e-commerce imports and exports between China and BRI partner countries exceeded the overall growth rate of China's cross-border e-commerce trade in 2022. Additionally, the cross-border e-commerce trade volume between China and BRI partner countries exceeded 50 percent of the total trade volume in this category.
China has signed cooperation memorandums of understanding on “the digital Silk Road” with 17 countries and has set up bilateral cooperation mechanisms on “Silk Road e-commerce” with 30 countries, establishing multi-level and wide-ranging practical cooperation in areas such as policy communication, industry docking, capacity building, and local cooperation. China has strived to create an open, inclusive, mutually beneficial “Silk Road e-commerce partnership”.
Looking ahead, China will actively align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, establish a sound digital trade governance system, promote the reform, innovation and development of digital trade so as to continuously provide new opportunities for global economic growth.
In terms of specific policies, China plans to foster robust digital trade, focusing on top-level design, effective promotion policies, and active participation in shaping international rules and standards. China aims to develop digital trade as a new engine for building a strong trading nation, contributing “Chinese wisdom” and “Chinese solutions” to the advancement of global digital trade.
Li Jun, director of the Institute of International Trade in Service under China’s Ministry of Commerce, noted that digital technology is undergoing rapid development and the digital economy is driving profound changes in the traditional economic models. In terms of trade, the evolution trend of global trade development rules suggests that digital trade is the future direction.
In the era of digital economy, future international trade or international division of labor will be tilted towards digital trade and bring trade increment, said Li, adding that China is committed to openness and development, which will create better opportunities for trade cooperation and bring new growth engines to global economic development. (Edited by Yang Yifan with Xinhua Silk Road, yangyifan@xinhua.org)
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