CIDCA vice-chairman addresses GDI digital cooperation forum at 2024 WIC Wuzhen Summit

Zhao Fengtao, vice-chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), attended the 2024 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit from Nov 20 to 21. He also delivered a speech at the Global Development Initiative (GDI) Digital Cooperation Forum, a pivotal sub-forum of the summit.  

Zhao emphasized the significance of cooperation in fields such as the digital economy and connectivity in the digital era. He said that the China-proposed GDI echoes the urgent call from Global South countries to bridge the digital divide and address governance deficits. "No country should be left behind in the modernization of the world, and the future of the digital age should be a future that benefits all countries and all people," he said. Zhao said that under the guidance of the initiative, the CIDCA has actively carried out foreign assistance and international development cooperation in the digital field, helping other developing countries to upgrade their level of digitalization and promote scientific and technological innovation and sustainable economic growth. 

Specifically, the CIDCA has built platforms for digital development, cooperation and exchange, and created new channels for promoting global trade connectivity in the digital era. It has reinforced the construction of digital infrastructure, covering communications, internet, e-government, intelligent transportation, and satellites, to provide new driving forces for the economic and social development of developing countries. And it has cultivated talents in digital development, helping developing countries break the talent bottleneck and enhance their own capacity for development and governance in the digital economy, according to Zhao.

China will continue to carry out exchanges and dialogue, strengthen capacity building, advance pragmatic cooperation, and fully tap the Global Development Project Pool and the Global Development Capital Pool to gather more resources and forces in the digital development cooperation, Zhao concluded. 

The forum was co-hosted by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the CIDCA and the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs. More than 150 people from governments, United Nations agencies, international organizations, research institutions, industry associations and enterprises attended the event.