A foreign attendee (right) experiences an eVTOL at the third Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on September 26, 2024. Photo: Yin Yeping/GT

Foreign businesses praised China's digitalization advancements at the third Global Digital Trade Expo (GDTE), one of the world's largest of its kind, in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, while advocating a greater embrace of the new opportunities this trend presents. 

As China's only national, international and professional exhibition focused on digital trade, this year's GDTE, which is being held from Wednesday to Sunday, is larger in scale and showcases an even greater variety of new products, ranging from artificial intelligence (AI) to smart travel and digital healthcare.

More than 30,000 professional buyers have registered to participate in the expo, including more than 6,000 international merchants. Many foreign businesses participating in the expo hope to seize the opportunities presented by China's digital transformation.

Pfizer, a US-based biopharmaceutical company, noted that this year, the digital trade expo was included in the Government Work Report, demonstrating China's determination to accelerate the development of the digital economy and promote high-quality growth through new quality productive forces.

Pfizer has vowed to leverage China's cutting-edge digital technology development trends to strengthen its connections with the local ecosystem.

Teguh Prasetya, chairman of the Indonesian Internet of Things Association, told the Global Times that he understands that digital transformation can rapidly drive economic growth and sees how digitalization and technology enhancements can benefit nations like China and Indonesia.

"We welcome collaboration in the field, which will greatly enable us in advancing digital transformation and adopting new technologies in our country," Prasetya said.

Abylay Zhussipbek, founder and CEO of ZIZ Inc, a technology innovation company in Kazakhstan, said that he can never find a digital trade event of this scale in Central Asia, which is why he is in China looking for opportunities.

"There are numerous leading companies in the industry, which represent significant opportunities for partnership, including technology exchanges and the sharing of new ideas" Zhussipbek said.

"There are things I found quite useful here, including a booth that sells car chargers," Sully Sullivan, a US businessperson, told the Global Times. He also mentioned a place that offers modular AI testing software, which is easy to set up, and he finds it useful for his factory in the US to speed up production. 

Tig Mooney, executive head of the Wycombe Abbey School Hangzhou, said that he has been blown away by just the size of the exhibition halls and the variety of exhibits in each hall, which is amazing to him.