Lu Wei, minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China speaks at the China-ASEAN InformationHarbor Forum opening ceremony in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on September 13, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

The digital economy has become the most powerful engine to drive China's economicdevelopment, said Lu Wei, minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), at theChina-ASEAN Information Harbor Forum that began on Sunday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Lu said the Internet was showing a growing effect onupgrading industries and supporting the development of innovative businesses in China, and thesector's growth rate was five times higher than that of GDP.

China's growth eased to 7 percent in the first half of the year, the weakest in more than twodecades, but that was no small achievement in a slowing world economy.

Underpinned by the "Internet Plus" strategy, "we hope to develop cross-border e-commerce,better build a China-ASEAN Information Harbor, create a regional financial information centerand push forward digital economic cooperation among these countries," said Lu.

Cross-border e-commerce has grown substantially since China established a pilot programoffering preferential policies to businesses in five Chinese cities - Shanghai, Chongqing,Hangzhou, Ningbo and Zhengzhou - at the end of 2013.

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show trade volume of cross-border e-commercereached 3.75 trillion yuan in 2014 and is expected to reach 6.5 trillion yuan in 2016.

More than 200,000 companies are running cross-border e-commerce businesses in China withmore than 5,000 online shopping platforms.

"China and ASEAN countries are all developing with a wide range of needs and great potentialin digital economic development," said Lu.

He noted that 700 million people in China are yet to have access to the Internet, while 400 millionpeople in ASEAN countries are not Internet users, either. "They have a greater need to get moreinformation, gain knowledge and get rid of poverty via the Internet," said Lu.

"The key to building modern and smart information hubs lies in technology and innovation. We’reglad to see more and more enterprises, research institutions, higher education and industrialorganizations join the China-ASEAN technology cooperation network to improve the level oftechnological assembling and enhance the incubation of innovations," Lu continued.

The forum, themed "Internet plus Maritime Silk Road: Cooperation, Mutual Benefit and Win-win",was staged jointly by the CAC, National Development and Reform Commission and GuangxiZhuang autonomous region.