2026 World Internet Conference Digital Silk Road Development Forum Opens in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province

On July 22, the 2026 World Internet Conference (WIC) Digital Silk Road Development Forum officially opened in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Hosted by the WIC and organized by the Shaanxi Provincial Government, the forum was held under the theme "Pooling Intelligence on the Silk Road, Embarking on a Digital Future — Jointly Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace." Approximately 800 participants from more than 50 countries and regions, as well as seven international organizations, attended the event.

Notable attendees included Mayra Arevich Marín, Minister of Communications of Cuba; Faqir Mahbub Anam, Minister of Posts, Telecommunication & Information Technology and Minister of Science and Technology of Bangladesh; Samba Diouf, Minister of Telecommunications and Digital Affairs of Senegal; Wang Binying, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); John Higgins, President of the International AI Governance Association (IAGA); and Wang Xingxing, Founder and CEO of Unitree Robotics, who delivered speeches during the opening ceremony.

Following the opening ceremony, a ministerial meeting took place alongside thematic forums that focused on Silk Road e-commerce cooperation, collaborative innovation in AI agents, digital and intelligent health, and the preservation of cultural heritage in the digital intelligence era. The discussions aimed to help Belt and Road partner countries strengthen consensus, deepen cooperation, and seize new opportunities from digital and intelligent development.

Additionally, the World Internet Conference Cultural Heritage Digitalization Case Collection (2026) was released during the forum. A series of capacity-building activities under the WIC Digital & AI Academy were also conducted, including a program on AI-driven digital trade, a salon on "Copyright Empowerment in Cultural Heritage Digitalization," and a field study at a digital port.