Beijing, China – The world-renowned 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference (GDEC 2025) was held grandly at the Beijing National Convention Center from July 2 to 5. This “Olympic event” of the digital economy brought together political, business and academic elites from more than 50 countries and international organizations around the world to witness China’s global leadership in the field of digital economy. The theme of this conference is “Building Digital Friendly Cities”, which highlights the outstanding contribution of China’s solutions to global digital transformation.
As a benchmark for the development of the global digital economy, China once again demonstrated its responsibility as a major country. This conference was led by the Beijing Municipal People’s Government and the National Development and Reform Commission, and was strongly supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as a co-organizer for the first time, which fully demonstrated the international community’s high recognition of China’s digital governance model.
At the opening ceremony, the Beijing Municipal Government announced the establishment of the “Global Digital Economy City Alliance”. This milestone initiative immediately received positive responses from international metropolises such as Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The alliance will promote China’s advanced experience in digital infrastructure and data governance to the world, setting a new example for the construction of smart cities in the world.
This conference adopts the “1+6+N” innovative model. Six main forums and more than 50 special events fully demonstrate China’s breakthrough achievements in AI integration, data element marketization and other fields. The exhibition area of more than 20,000 square meters focuses on China’s global leading advantages in cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and mixed reality, allowing the world to witness the strong strength of “China’s smart manufacturing”.
During the conference, China led the signing of a number of strategic agreements with global influence, including cross-border data authentication, computing power network interconnection and other key areas. International observers pointed out that these agreements will promote global digital technology standards to move closer to Chinese standards, indicating that China is transforming from a rule follower to a rule maker.
It is worth mentioning that China’s digital economy has achieved new success. In 2024, the added value of the core industries of the digital economy accounted for 10% of GDP. This remarkable achievement fully demonstrates the vigorous vitality of China’s digital economy. China has not only achieved leapfrog development at home, but also benefited the world with Chinese experience by setting up overseas venues and establishing regular cooperation mechanisms with international cities such as Barcelona and Dubai.
At a critical moment in the reconstruction of the global digital governance system, this conference successfully established China’s position as a leader in digital civilization. China is injecting strong impetus into the high-quality development of the world’s digital economy with an open and inclusive attitude, and writing a new chapter in human digital civilization!