China's unwavering efforts to promote an open, fair and inclusive development environment for the digital economy will create more space for multinational enterprises to grow and give new growth impetus to the world economic recovery, according to experts and business leaders.

China, the world's second-largest economy, is one of the most active countries in promoting the digital economy and global digital governance. The nation has adopted a series of policy measures to promote digital development in recent years, while opening up the sector wider to the rest of the world.

Featuring cutting-edge technologies including big data, artificial intelligence and 5G communications, China's digital economy was valued at 45.5 trillion yuan ($6.46 trillion) last year, according to a report released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, or CAICT, in July.

The value of the digital economy surged 16.2 percent year-on-year and accounted for 39.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product in 2021.

"Digital economy has become an increasingly important force to reallocate global production factors and reshape global economic structures, changing the global competition scenario," said Liu Dianxun, director of the Ministry of Commerce's Investment Promotion Agency.

"China is proactive in participating in global cooperation in the digital economy.... The pursuit of joining in the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement is an important move by China to promote high-level opening-up, which will facilitate China's win-win cooperation in the digital economy with others and give rise to more cooperation and investment opportunities for Chinese and foreign enterprises," he added.

The DEPA is a new type of trade partnership agreement on digital trade signed in 2020 by New Zealand, Chile and Singapore. China's application to join in the DEPA last year and its recent establishment of a working team for the accession negotiations have shown the nation's sincerity in promoting global cooperation on the digital economy, Liu said.

He made the remarks at a forum on international cooperation in the digital economy during the recently concluded 22nd China International Fair for Investment and Trade in Xiamen, Fujian province.

China had some 1.85 million 5G base stations and more than 450 million 5G end users by the end of June, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The scale of its computing power, or ability to process data, has grown at an average annual rate of more than 30 percent from 2017 to 2021 and ranked second in the world at the end of 2021, according to the CAICT report.

Experts and foreign officials have spoken highly of China's upholding of multilateralism in digital development and governance.

Some pilot free trade zones, including the one in Beijing, have been experimenting with new policies for digital trade facilitation and liberalization, while official commerce data showed the nation's cross-border e-commerce reached 1.98 trillion yuan in 2021, up 15 percent from a year earlier.

"China not only attaches importance to the development of its own digital economy, but also has been making diligent efforts to promote globalization of the digital economy," Yu Hongjun, deputy president of the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament, told the forum in a video speech.

"It always advocates for international cooperation on the digital economy with an open, inclusive and constructive manner," he said.

Maria Gustava, Mozambique's ambassador to China, said at the forum that China's achievements in developing the digital economy are contributing to and have far-reaching influence on global economic and social development, global governance and the progress being made toward a digital community with a shared future for all.

China and Africa's deepening cooperation on the digital economy has benefited both parties, she said.

Qian Kun, global senior vice-president of Qualcomm, said at a forum during the 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services that digital technologies such as 5G communications have been empowering transformation and upgrades of traditional industries such as trade in services, and demand is booming in the digital sector in China.

Jiang Liqin, a member of the KPMG China board, said China's efforts to join in high-level international economic and trade pacts will facilitate enterprises to better manage the cross-border flow of digital data and tap growth opportunities.