"How to deepen cooperation in the field of digital economy and further open up the ASEAN international market?" On Nov. 17, at the China-ASEAN Smart Industry and Finance Development Summit Forum with the theme of "smart industry and finance, upgrading and development", experts and scholars gathered together to offer suggestions for deepening China ASEAN economic cooperation.

Yang Tianhua, President of ASEAN-China Commerce Association, said that 2022 is the year when the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) comes into force, and also the first year for China and ASEAN to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership. With the continuous promotion of Belt and Road Initiative, the digital economic exchanges between China and ASEAN are growing day by day. The digital economy has gradually become an important part of China-ASEAN economic cooperation and a new engine for bilateral economic development.

At present, ASEAN is the second largest trading partner, the first largest export market and the fourth largest import market of Hebei Province. Chen Yan, Deputy Director General of the Department of Commerce of Hebei Provincial Department of Commerce, gave a group of data: from January to September this year, Hebei's total foreign trade import and export to ASEAN reached 52.9 billion Chinese yuan, up 32.25% year on year.

Li Qing, director of the Department of International Economics and Trade of the Business School of Hebei University of Economics and Business said that with the signing and entry into force of RCEP, the cross-border e-commerce market in the region will gradually shift from barbaric growth to standardized development, and form a close ecological chain and service chain around cross-border e-commerce, which will continue to promote the transformation and upgrading of China's cross-border e-commerce.