Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulatory letter on May 26 to the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2017, which kicked off in Guiyang, Southwest China’s Guizhou province.

As a new round of sci-tech revolution and industrial transformation sweeps across the globe, new technologies, such as big data, cloud computing, internet of things, artificial intelligence and blockchain, are continuing to emerge, said the Premier.

The digital economy has profoundly changed production and people’s lives, and is playing its role as a new engine of economic growth, he said.

Premier Li hailed Guizhou province, where bold explorations and experiments were taking place in this regard, bearing positive results.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of the digital economy, he said. Sticking to the innovation-driven development strategy and government function reforms in streamlining administration, delegating power to lower levels, improving regulation and optimizing services, the government plans to stimulate creativity and market vitality.

It is also making efforts to speed up economic transformation and upgrading, and promote social progress, through a combination of the mass entrepreneurship and innovation movement with the cyber-power construction strategy, the national big data strategy, the Internet Plus action plan, and Made in China 2025 initiative, he added.

Focusing on frontier technologies and win-win cooperation, China hopes to work with the rest of the world, to promote innovative cooperation in the digital economy and share development opportunities, Premier Li said.

Vice-Premier Ma Kai attended the opening ceremony.