E-commerce advances cross-border trade and investment under Belt and Road Initiative

GUANGZHOU, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Belt and Road Initiative has offered huge opportunities for cross-border trade and investment. In particular, the e-commerce has brought the enterprises around the world together and helped their development under the initiative, said attendees at the “The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road” Forum on International Communication and Chinese (Guangdong) Companies Going Global on Wednesday.

Global trade facilitation is not only to improve the efficiency of trade, but also to help improve the market share of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the world. The “Internet plus foreign trade” brings new opportunities for traditional global trade, said Xiao Feng, Vice Commissioner of ICC China Commission on Customs and Trade Facilitation, Vice General Manager of Alibaba’s Foreign Trade and Integrated Services Department, and Co-Founder of Shenzhen One Touch Business Service Ltd.

The boom of e-commerce has promoted the Belt and Road construction. The Belt and Road Initiative has accelerated spread of information technology, with penetration rates of Internet, smart phones and e-payments rising in many countries. This will definitely drive the change of traditional trade mode and allow more companies to buy and sell globally and consumers to have access to better products and services at lower prices in the global market, said Song Lihong, Counsel of the General Affairs Department of China’s Ministry of Commerce.

The new generation information technologies represented by big data, cloud computing, virtual reality and artificial intelligence have developed rapidly, which has built a new business mode for e-commerce interactive shopping experience. The e-commerce platforms have also gradually possessed social communication functions, which will make the cross-border e-commerce and international trade cooperation more convenient and much quicker, said Wang Jun, President of Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences.

The Forum themed on “cooperation, communication and value” is hosted by the Information Office of Guangdong Provincial Government, Zhuhai Municipal Government and China Economic Information Service (CEIS) of Xinhua News Agency. (Contributed by Hu Pingchao, Meng Yingru, hupingchao@xinhua.org; edited by Ma Xin)