China Daily Special Session at Asia-Pacific Business Forum: Exploring the Opportunities of Digital Silk Road

11 April 2018, Hong Kong: Co-organized by China Daily and Asia-Pacific Business Forum, a special session on “Digital Silk Road: Fostering regional cooperation in technology and finance for the Belt and Road Initiative” held from 9:00 to 10:00 AM on April 11, 2018 at Cyberport.

The Asia-Pacific Business Forum, to be held in Hong Kong for the first time, drew more than 200 industry elites from Hong Kong and abroad, who will examine how private sector-led innovation, technology and financing can enhance efforts in achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

China Daily is delighted to have three distinguished speakers for the panel discussions -- Dr. Li Shan, CEO of Silk Road Finance Corporation Ltd; Dr. Margit Molnar, Chief China Economist of OECD; and Mr. Carson Wen, Founder and Chairman of Bank of Asia, British Virgin Islands and BOA Financial Group.

Dr. Li Shan said that for the Belt and Road Initiative, the most fundamental thing is finance. It is the core and heart more than economy. We should make the best use of our modern technology specifically fintech to make it most efficient. Many leaders in the financial business think digital finance (digital currency included) is the future of financial world. As a leading financial center, Hong Kong is actually a good place to start doing certain kind of investment both in technology and finance.

Dr. Margit Molnar said that the Belt and Road Initiative is going beyond any type of investment, it’s about productivity effect, through the coordination and harmonization impact. If a there’s a large scale of harmonization of different legislations and regulations, there’s will be greater productivity effect. One of the examples I’d like to mention is the harmony of intellectual property right related innovation, that means an inventor from a small country can have his innovation commercialized in another country.

Mr. Carson Wen said that the Digital Silk Road is probably the first immediate way to cross boarders in terms of the movement of data and information. The digital Silk Road will help to build digital infrastructures, and hopefully it will also help to create a system of governance for trades along the Belt and Road countries.

President Xi Jinping proposed building the Digital Silk Road of the 21st Century at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May last year. The Digital Silk Road has since become a buzzword, representing a new concept and an epoch topic under the Belt and Road Initiative. A growing pool of prominent Chinese mainland enterprises, including tech titans Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei, have been involved in the construction of the Digital Silk Road, creating power and fresh opportunities in digital construction development for the countries and regions along the Belt and Road.

The panelists focused on regional trade development, big data hub facilitation, and redefining the supply chain, to explore regional cooperation in technology and finance for the Belt and Road Initiative.

About China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable
The China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable is a by-invitation network of movers and shakers in Asia providing platforms for focused dialogue, issue investigation, and possible collective action on strategic issues relating to economic, business and social development in Asia. Our aim is to enhance communication and increase mutual understanding between China, Asian and Western countries. Roundtable events are held in major cities across Asia.

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