The World Internet Conference's (WIC) Digital Silk Road Development Forum is scheduled for April 16 in Xi'an, Shaanxi province in China, according to the WIC Secretary-General. The forum, centered on "Connectivity and Shared Prosperity", will deep dive into the topics of "Digital Connectivity", "Silk Road E-commerce", and "Digital Villages" .

The Cyberspace Administration of China annually hosts the WIC, also known as the Wuzhen Summit, since 2014 to address worldwide internet matters. The World Internet Conference Digital Academy Program, aiming to promote capacity building in the digital realm, will be inaugurated at the forum, offering new platforms and opportunities.

Shaanxi province is honing in on the growth of the digital economy, setting a target for it to contribute to over 40% of its GDP by 2023. The province is home to a national supercomputing center and an artificial intelligence computing center. Xi'an, the host city, has identified the digital economy as a fresh catalyst for industrial growth, housing a plethora of enterprises in big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.

This year, the forum will include participants from organizations like GSMA, Micron, Qualcomm, Intel, among others, representing over 30 countries.