Hosted by the World Internet Conference (WIC), organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government and co-organised by the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau (ITIB), the World Internet Conference Asia-Pacific Summit kicked off today (April 14) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Under the theme, "Integration of AI and Digital Technologies Shaping the Future - Jointly Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace", the two-day Summit is expected to attract nearly 1 000 local and overseas participants, including representatives from governments and political and business sectors, international organisations, management of leading corporations, authoritative experts and scholars. They are gathering in Hong Kong for in-depth exchanges of views and experience sharing on promoting high-quality development in innovation and technology (I&T), strengthening regional digital collaboration, as well as creating new momentum and new advantages for the development of the Asia-Pacific region.

The WIC designated Hong Kong to host the Asia-Pacific Summit for the first time, affirming Hong Kong's pivotal role as an important bridge and two-way platform connecting our country and the world. At the opening ceremony of the Summit this morning, the Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Mr Wang Yong, and the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, delivered their remarks, while the Minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China and Chairman of the WIC, Mr Zhuang Rongwen, gave a keynote speech. The Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, Mr Zheng Yanxiong; the CEO of GSMA Ltd., Mr John Hoffman; the Chair of ZTE Corporation, Mr Fang Rong; the "father of the Internet in Africa", Mr Nii Narku Quaynor, and other distinguished guests, also spoke at the opening ceremony, sharing their valuable insights on building an open and cooperative community with a shared future in cyberspace.

After the opening ceremony, a government-enterprise dialogue session was co-hosted by the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, and the Secretary General of the WIC, Mr Ren Xianliang. The session brought together ministerial officials and senior representatives of industry corporations from countries and regions such as Algeria, Tanzania and Oman, as well as business leaders from Intel, Alibaba Cloud, Ping An Group and many more to conduct in-depth exchanges on ways to harness I&T to drive economic development, support enterprises' overseas expansion, inject new impetus for economic growth, and actively building practical cooperation platforms. The Commissioner for Digital Policy, Mr Tony Wong, also attended the session and delivered a speech, introducing the latest development of Hong Kong's digital government.

The focus of the Summit in the afternoon was the main forum on the digital intelligence future which covered three key thematic sections: "Building robust foundations for a digital future", "AI applications across industries" and "Security and governance in the digital era". The forum had a stellar lineup of speakers, including the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan; Professor Sun Dong, alongside Co-Founder and CTO of Manycore Tech, Mr Zhu Hao, from Hangzhou's "Six Little Dragons" tech cluster; the CEO of Arm China, Mr Chen Feng; the General Manager of IBM Asia Pacific, Mr Hans Dekkers, and other representatives from renowned organisations and corporations. Additionally, the Summit hosted a briefing on Practice Cases and Awards for Pioneering Science and Technology and a workshop on AI governance and sustainable development to further promote exchange and collaboration in related fields.

The Summit will present three sub-forums tomorrow (April 15) morning where internationally renowned speakers will conduct a deep discussion and exchange on "Large Artificial Intelligence Models", "Digital Finance" and "Digital Government and Smart Life" to explore future development and potential across various domains in digital technology. The Commissioner for Digital Policy, Mr Tony Wong, will deliver a speech at the sub-forum on "Large Artificial Intelligence Models" and publish the "Hong Kong Generative Artificial Intelligence Technical and Application Guideline", showcasing Hong Kong's leading role in the field of AI governance. Meanwhile, a series of affiliated activities including a cybersecurity emergency response advanced training programme and a "Workshop on AI & Cybersecurity: Strategies for Attack and Defence in the Intelligent Era" will also be held. Details of the Summit are available on the event website wicinternet.org/WICAsiaPacificSummit.html.

Furthermore, Hong Kong's annual I&T mega event, the Business of Innovation and Technology Week (BIT Week), takes place concurrently in April, featuring a series of exciting I&T activities, including the InnoEX, Hong Kong World Youth Science Conference, Xiangjiang Nobel Forum, and more, further elevating Hong Kong's I&T atmosphere to new heights and accelerating its development into an international I&T centre.

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