By Wu Siya

BEIJING, July. 19 (China Economic Net)– "The 2025 Global Critical and Emerging Technology Index report released by Harvard University points out that the United States occupies a leading position in global technological competition, but China is rising rapidly in many key links. In the global technology industry chain, no country could fully master all key links, which means that many bottlenecks in the supply chain require countries to work together to seek solutions," Nie Wenhui, vice president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, emphasized at a Digital Economy Dialogue during the 3rd China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE).

The Digital Economy Dialogue [Photo/CISCE]

Research shows that AI will boost global economic growth by 15% by 2035, which is equivalent to the impact of industrialization on global economic growth in the 19th century.

When it comes to the digitalization of the supply chain, cooperation among all parties in the industry chain should be the foundation for development. “Our report shows that the current supply chain of enterprises is moving from China + 1 to China + N. By now, ASEAN is regarded as the most important overseas procurement market, terminal market and future investment destination for Chinese enterprises. Therefore, in 2023, we have launched the first digital supply chain financing platform across ASEAN and Greater China,” said Xin Tao, Managing Director of UOB China.

“Chinese companies are able to use this platform to gain a one-stop understanding of domestic and overseas capital flows, trade flows and supply chains, as well as make cross-regional supplier financing arrangements by directly operating supply chain financing in the ASEAN region on the platform, which overcomes the different language environments, legal compliance systems, and version compatibility in the ASEAN markets, greatly reducing the operating costs of companies. In a word, it can be said to be a model of regional digital cooperation.”

In recent years, China and ASEAN have deeply integrated bilateral industrial chains, with the use of RMB has become increasingly widespread in the region. Among the cross-border transaction volume and total trade in goods in the ASEAN region, about 30% are traded in cross-border RMB. Obviously, the localization, diversification and digitalization of the supply chain have put forward new requirements for cross-border payments.

In May this year, Beijing and the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore jointly promoted the world’s first interoperable, digital collection paperless trade cooperation project. Electronic bills of lading, cargo rights, transfer documents, and traceability documents have achieved efficient and secure circulation among shipowners, cargo owners, banks and other participants. With the full completion of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 negotiations, China and ASEAN will expand deeper mutual cooperation in emerging areas such as digital economy and supply chain connectivity.