Online Silk Road connects China and Arabian countries

The Online Silk Road Convention of the China-Arab States Expo 2017 in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on September 6, focused on the construction of the Cyberspace Silk Road and international cooperation on digital economy.

Hundreds of officials, businesspeople and scholars from China and Arabian states took part.

Wu Hao, deputy director of high-tech industry section of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that thanks to the government's support for e-commerce, big data and cloud computing, the value of China's digital economy hit 22.6 trillion yuan (US$3.47 trillion) last year.

In the first half of this year, the value of online retail sales reached 3 trillion yuan, enabling China's mobile payment and e-payment sector to rank first in the world.

Wu said: "We have cooperated with the Arabian states, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, on information infrastructure facilities, cross-border e-commerce and smart city development in the past two years. China is willing to share its experience in the digital economy with other countries and expand relevant cooperation."

China has 34 cables connected to 12 countries along the Belt and Road routes, and China's information telecommunication enterprises are taking part in the construction of information infrastructure facilities in more than 170 countries.

More and more Middle East countries realize the importance of cooperating with China on the construction of the "online Silk Road", considering it a new cooperation point for partnership.

Zhuang Rongwen, vice head of the Office of Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, said: "The building of the online Silk Road has created new cooperation space for China and Arabian countries in the past two years, and the cross-border e-commerce has become a new engine for bilateral cooperation."

Zhang also said the optical cable project connecting Faizabad in India, the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan and Kashgar in China is progressing well.