Against the backdrop of COVID-19 deeply affecting the global economy, digital trade is becoming a new engine for the development of the Belt and Road. China and the countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative have been building consensus on digital trade cooperation, adhering to innovation-driven, and open cooperation for serving people’s livelihood, facilitating the vigorous development of digital trade, and promoting the continuous vitality of the world economy.

The Belt and Road Digital Trade Index Development Report released at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services shows that in recent years, digital trade between most participating countries and China has shown great development, with broad development prospects and huge potential. On the whole, Asian countries and China have closer cooperation on the Belt and Road digital trade. Among the top 10 in the comprehensive index are 7 Asian countries, 5 of which are ASEAN countries.

Digital trade promotes the deep integration of digital technology, economy and society, and plays an irreplaceable role in aggregating innovative resources, activating innovation momentum, and creating industry ecology. During the global COVID-19 pandemic, services such as telemedicine, online education, sharing platforms, collaborative office, and cross-border e-commerce have been widely applied. As the desire of various countries to boost the economy becomes stronger, the development of the Digital Silk Road will bring more opportunities for the economic and trade recovery of those participating countries.