16+1 E-commerce Development Conference was successfully held under the “Belt and Road” Initiative

OnAugust 4th, 2017, the 16+1 E-commerce Development Conference was successfully held under the “Belt and Road” Initiative in the Wuhou District,Chengdu. This conference is co-hosted by China International ElectronicCommerce Center (CIECC) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences 16+1 ThinkTank Communication and Cooperation Network of the under the guidance of theMinistry of Commerce and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and supportedby government departments and enterprises of the Sichuan Provincial Departmentof Commerce, Chengdu Wuhou District’s Party Committee, District Government.

Inthe morning of 4th, over 280 persons attended the opening ceremonyof the meeting and they are from the Embassies and Consulates in China ,relatedthink tanks and academic agencies from countries like Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Poland, Czech, Romania, Lithuania as well as the famouselectric business representatives like Alibaba, Jingdong and Amazon(China)、DunhuangNetwork. Yu Yuantang, the Commercial Counsellor of the Department of European Affairsof Ministry of Commerce, Liu Xiaoliu, Deputy Mayor of Chengdu, Gao Mateng, Ambassadorof the Republic of Estonia to China, Liu Zuokui, Director of the Secretariat Officeof 16+1 Think Tank Network of CASS. NanYingjie, Consul General of the Hungarian Consulate in Chongqing, Lin Li, DeputySecretary and District Mayor of Wuhou District Party Committee in Chengdudelivered speeches on the opening ceremony.

YuYuantang, the Commercial Counsellor of the Department of European Affairs of Ministryof Commerce pointed out in the speech that the “16+1 Cooperation” brought a lotnew development opportunities to expand the Economic and Trade Cooperation Zonebetween China and Central-Eastern European countries since its establishment in2012. The new formats of “Internet+ E-commerce” brokethrough many restrictions such as time, space, industry, group, etc. to providea more convenient way for international economic and trade cooperation and it hadgreat potential for the development.

GaoMateng, Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to China, delivered hiscongratulations for the hold of the conference. Estonia and China has become eachothers’ important cooperation partners in economy and trade, culture,education, tourism and other aspects. He also briefly introduced thedevelopment of e-commerce in Estonia and hoped both sides could makecontributions in the E-commerce, logistics and the development of small andmedium enterprises aspects.

LiuZuokui, Director of the Secretariat Office of 16+1 Think Tank Network of CASS,introduced the 16+1 Think Tank Exchange Network and “16+1 Cooperation” hadformed the all round wide-ranging and multi-level pattern from nothing, from theshallower to the deeper. Central-Eastern European countries are the important sectorof the implementation of the Belt and Road "initiative and hasits unique location advantages and market advantages. It is hoped that thisconference would be an opportunity to build platforms to promote thecommunication between government and industry in China and Central-EasternEuropean countries and drew on each other’s merits and boosted furtherdevelopment of the cooperation between China and Central-Eastern Europeancountries.

NanYingjie, Consul General of the Hungarian Consulate in Chongqing, pointed out thatthe bilateral relations between China and Hungary had a long history andprofound friendship. The Hungarian government's policy of "opening to the east"is coherent with China’s “Belt and Road "initiative. Hungary was also thefirst European country to take part in the “Belt and Road "initiative andsigned the memorandum of understanding. In November this year, Budapest willhold the sixth session of 16+1 National Leaders' Meeting which will furtherdeepen the relationship between China and Central-Eastern European countries.And people from all walks of life are welcomed to visit Hungary.

Onthe opening ceremony, Yao Guanghai, Secretary of the Party committee of CIECCand Jiang Ming, Deputy District Mayor of the Wuhou District in Chengdu signedthe Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement. The two sides will establishstrategic cooperation in the fields of electronic information, E-commerce and relateddigital industries using international resources and brands of CIECC to holdinternational activities with Wuhou District and help to promote the industrialdevelopment and upgrading.

Thisconference is composed of dialogue and round table meetings. The dialoguesection was hosted by Li Mingtao, the President of the Research Academy ofCIECC. They conducted high-end discussion on the development of economy, tradeand e-commerce in Central and Eastern Europe, trends of economic and tradedevelopment and how the cross-border E-commerce promoted the inclusive trade betweenChina and Central-Eastern European countries under the “Belt and Road”initiative. The participating guests include representatives from Latvia,Estonia, Albania, Germany and Chinese E-commerce experts as well as E-commerce enterpriserepresentatives from Chengdu.

Onthe afternoon of 4th, the round table meetings were hosted by LiuZuokui, Director of the Secretariat Office of 16+1 Think Tank Network of CASSand Professor Wang Jian from University of International Business and Economics,over 60 persons from the think tank and enterprises representatives from Chinaand Central-Eastern European countries attended the meetings. The conferenceaims at building platforms, promoting the communication, resource integrationand optimization, complementary advantages between the government enterprisesand industries between China and Central-Eastern European countries. The expertsand scholars who attended the meeting conducted deep discussion on the developmentof economy, trade and e-commerce in Central-Eastern Europe, economic and tradedevelopment trends of China and Central-Eastern Europe, the problems and challengesof the cross-border trade between China and Central-Eastern Europe.

Thisconference discussed the topic of e-commerce cooperation and development in the16+1 mechanism which arouse a lot interests and attentions. All theparticipants agreed that E-commerce changed the international trade format andthe growth mode and it can build new platforms for small and medium enterprisesin China and Central-Eastern Europe countries create new opportunities andexpand trade scale. The representatives’ speeches and discussions reflect theurgent desire of the countries to draw on China's experience and strengthene-commerce cooperation.