XI'AN, China, July 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from CRI Online:

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.

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, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.

Following the opening ceremony, a ministerial meeting was held. Thematic forums were convened focusing on Silk Road e-commerce cooperation and development, collaborative innovation and development of AI agents, digital and intelligent health, and the preservation and transmission of cultural heritage in the digital intelligence era. These discussions aimed to help Belt and Road partner countries strengthen consensus, deepen cooperation, and seize new opportunities brought by digital and intelligent development. During the forum, the World Internet Conference Cultural Heritage Digitalization Case Collection (2026) was released. A series of capacity-building activities under the WIC Digital & AI Academy were also held, including a capacity building program on AI-driven digital trade, a salon on "Copyright Empowerment in Cultural Heritage Digitalization", and a field study at a digital port.