Digital trade is becoming a significant force for China to reorganize factor resources, optimize foreign trade structure and shape new development advantages, contributing new systems for a higher-level open economy and a strong trade nation, said Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen on Tuesday.

Wang spoke at a press conference about the second Global Digital Trade Expo, scheduled for Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, from Nov. 23 to 27.

At the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation concluded last week, China announced to hold the Global Digital Trade Expo annually. The first Global Digital Trade Expo was held in Hangzhou last year, with over 5 billion U.S. dollars of tentative deals reached.

The expo is an important platform to propel digital trade, a public good to promote global digital economic cooperation, and a significant measure to build an open world economy, said Wang.

FRESH APPEAL

Compared with the first session, this year's Global Digital Trade Expo will become more professional, internationalized, and market-oriented, said Lu Shan, deputy governor of Zhejiang.

The expo features four "professional venues," showcasing new digital products in various areas, including information and communication, digital security, smart Internet of Things, digital finance, and digital medical care.

Finland and South Africa are invited as the guest countries of honor, bringing exhibitions focusing on digital infrastructure, rules for digital industries, and the achievements of their digital trade cooperations with China.

Over 30 international organizations, including the World Trade Organization, have confirmed their attendance, said Wang, adding that activities related to Silk Road e-commerce cooperation will be held.

Wang also noted that over 100 business activities will be held during the expo, while over 800 international purchasers will be invited to the expo, seeking opportunities to tap into the market.

BOOMING DIGITAL TRADE

The burgeoning digital economy has promoted the development of digital trade, which is a new growth driver of international trade in the future, said Wang, adding that China's digital trade has made significant progress.

In the first eight months of the year, China's digitally-delivered service trade rose 10.4 percent year on year to 1.81 trillion yuan (about 252.14 billion U.S. dollars), he said.

From January to September, the import and export scale of the cross-border e-commerce totaled 1.7 trillion yuan, expanding by 14.4 percent year on year and accounting for 5.5 percent of the trade volume in goods in the same period.

The industrial foundation for digital trade also consolidated, said Wang. In 2022, the scale of China's digital economy increased by 10.3 percent year on year to 50.2 trillion yuan, accounting for 41.5 percent of the country's GDP.

The combination of digital technology with the real economy has invigorated new forms of consumption, including internet games, online education, and telemedicine, stimulating the potential of digital trade, Wang said. The overseas sales revenue of China's self-developed online games reached 17.35 billion dollars last year and over 16,000 Chinese online literary works have entered overseas markets, reaching 150 million overseas readers.

China will continue to promote the development of digital trade, said Wang, adding that efforts will be made to strengthen top-level design, improve the construction of relevant platforms, develop new business forms, and promote higher-level opening up, sharing opportunities brought by digital trade with other countries.