On September 26, at the 2021World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, the Blue Book "China Internet Development Report 2021" compiled by the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies was officially released. The report points out that China's digital economy reached 39.2 trillion yuan in 2020, accounting for 38.6% of GDP, maintaining a high growth rate of 9.7%, and becoming a key driving force for stable economic growth.

（Photo Credit：Xinhuanet）

The report shows that the scale of China's digital industrialization has reached 7.5 trillion yuan, continuously spawning new industries, new formats, and new models, and marching toward the high-end global industrial chain; the process of industrial digitization continues to accelerate, reaching 31.7 trillion yuan. The levels of digitization are constantly improving in industry, agriculture, and trade in services.

In 2020, China's e-commerce transaction volume reached 37.21 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 4.5%; the scale of business income of the e-commerce service industry reached 5.45 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 21.9%. At the same time, the vigorous development of the digital economy has promoted the rapid growth of new market players, created a large number of jobs, and has become an important channel for ensuring employment, protecting people's livelihood, and protecting market players.

The 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) was held on September 2-7 at the Beijing National Convention Center and Shougang Park. With the theme of "Towards Digital Future and Service Driven Development", the 2021 CIFTIS focused on the new trends of the digital development of trade in services and set up a special exhibition area for digital services for the first time. Meanwhile, related professional conferences were held, including the Forum on Trends and Latest Developments of Digital Trade, to comprehensively display new digital and intelligent technologies, new models, new formats, and new achievements, and build a global platform for exchange, display, and transaction of digital trade.

At the Forum on Trends and Latest Developments of Digital Trade held during this fair, Wang Bingnan, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister of Commerce, pointed out in his speech that in recent years, China has actively promoted digital industrialization as well as industrial digitization, and promoted the deep integration of digital technology with economic and social development. China's digital trade has developed rapidly, and its scale and growth rate are among the highest in the world. Vigorously developing digital trade and actively carrying out international cooperation in digital trade is not only an important way for China to promote structural reforms on supply and replace old growth drivers with new ones, but also a strategic choice to accelerate the promotion of international and domestic dual circulations and build a new higher-level open economy. It is also a powerful tool to promote economic recovery after the pandemic and actively respond to major changes unfolding in our world, something unseen in a century.

Cui Shuqiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Executive Vice Mayor of the People's Government of Beijing, pointed out in his speech that after years of development, Beijing has become a leading city in the development of digital economy in China. In 2020, the added value of Beijing's digital economy accounted for 40% of the city's GDP. There are many enterprises related to the Internet and digital economy in Beijing, including more than 3900 software and information service enterprises above designated size, and 93 unicorn enterprises. In the future, Beijing will combine the construction of "Two Districts", the construction of a global digital economy benchmark city, and the construction of an international consumption center city, and firmly grasp the golden period of digital trade development. With a more open and inclusive attitude, Beijing will boldly explore, innovate, and promote high-quality development of digital trade and create a highland of digital economy for foreign cooperation and opening up.