Digital Switch Bodes Well for National Economy

"Among all the developing countries, China is among those which are most likely to catch up with developed nations in the area of digital economy," said Tuesday Zhou Hongren, a high-profile official with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Zhou, who is well acquainted with the development of the Internet and e-economy, said many Chinese cities are enthusiastic about broadband technology, which will play quite important role in the development of the Internet.

With their adoption of broadband technology, metropolises such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and region like Hong Kong, see themselves as "digital ports."

All of Beijing's 18 districts and counties will have computer networks of their own within the next five years, allowing for the switch from paper to computer data.

These metropolises are doing better than many European or US cities in the construction of high-level information network infrastructure, according to Zhou.

Zhou made the remarks at a press conference on the International Symposium on Network Economy and Economic Governance, which is scheduled for April 19 and 20 in Beijing.

Aimed at finding solutions to the imbalanced development of network economy in developed and developing countries, the two-day symposium will focus on the challenges and opportunities offered by the network economy to developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and the importance of establishing new relevant economic policies.

The development of information and communication technology around the world is uneven. Statistics show that 5 per cent of the world's population possess 98 per cent of the world's network resources.

Along with the few benefits the network economy has brought to developing countries, it has also brought uncertainties, including weakened state structures, loss of government sovereignty and an increase in unequal distribution.

In order to solve these problems, good economic governance at national and international levels is needed, said Zhou, the initiator of the symposium.






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