Dialogue seeks to narrow the gap in internet access

A minister dialogue on internet inclusiveness and sharing was held on Monday during the three-day 4th World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang province. The dialogue looked to promote policy coordination and international cooperation on the internet between China and the world, so as to narrow the gap between developed and developing countries and regions, and benefit everybody.

"The internet should be used to create fair opportunities for people to join in and benefit from, to promote the world economy and get it back to the track of prosperity, and to realize a win-win situation for all nations," said Li Wei, president of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

The internet is one of the most important outcomes that humans' technological revolution that has provided a significant and powerful tool for people to generate the wealth of both matter and spirit. Through extensive connection between people and things, the internet is able to create a great amount of new demand, new products, new industries and new business models. In addition, it can remarkably improve the production process and operation mode of traditional industries and help them restore vitality, according to Li.

Internet users in Europe and North America accounted for 85 percent of the global total, which means the rest of the world is still in need of internet development, said Dominique de Villepin, former prime minister of France, urging that all sides should drive cooperation in the internet field and make sure the internet economy develops in a more peaceful way.

"As the digital economy has brought fundamental revolutions to nearly all industries and fields, it is regarded as the important driving force in changing the manufacturing landscape. We've seen some companies are taking the lead, but most enterprises are in the process of transformation," said Xu Lejiang, vice-minister of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and executive vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.