The eastern region of China took a lead in the country's economic growth during the first quarter of this year, with the regional gross domestic product (GDP) increasing 5.6 percent year on year.
In specific, the GDP growth rate in Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang and Beijing all surpassed 6 percent during that period.
In other parts of China, in the first quarter, the GDP of the western region was 6.33 trillion yuan (about 891 billion U.S. dollars), up 5.2 percent year on year. Meanwhile, both the imports and exports of that region ranked first nationwide.
In the first three months, the GDP of the central region recorded a growth of 4.7 percent to reach 6.31 trillion yuan (about 889 billion U.S. dollars). Moreover, the region experienced rapid development in the upgrading of manufacturing industry.
"Both the two regions (central and western regions) exhibited robust growth momentum in terms of GDP and the development of new growth drivers, especially in the strategic emerging industries. This is of great significance for those regions to enhance their self-sustaining development, and narrow their gap with developed regions," said Zhou Yiren, director of the Institute of Spatial Planning and Regional Economy under the National Development and Reform Commission.
Out of the 31 provincial-level regions in China, 29 have released their economic data of the first quarter. Northeast China's Jilin Province stood out with an impressive GDP growth rate of 6.5 percent, taking the lead in economic performance.
During the first quarter, the combined GDP of the five major coastal provinces -- Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Fujian -- reached 11.7 trillion yuan (about 1.65 trillion U.S. dollars), accounting for nearly 40 percent of the national total.
Eastern region leads China's Q1 economic development with 5.6 pct GDP growth
International business leaders attending the Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit on Monday in Beijing believed artificial intelligence (AI) will give a fresh momentum to economic development by improving the productivity while calling for more mature technologies.
The third Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit saw a gathering of heads of chambers of commerce, business associations and trade promotion facilities, as well as high-level representatives from Tesla, Walmart and other Fortune Global 500 companies.
A high-level platform for interactions among business communities from different countries, the summit aims to jointly address global issues, nurture new growth points for international economic cooperation and reform the global economic governance system.
State-of-the-art AI technologies and the changes they will bring to economic landscapes have been put under the spotlight.
Lorenzo Riccardi, chairman of China-Italy Chamber of Commerce, hailed China's technological advances and saw digital technology as a priority area for cooperation between European and Chinese firms.
"I can see that nowadays in the business sector, Italian companies, they focus on Chinese partners to promote the digital trade of the quality of their products. So this is one of the key elements to cooperate between the Italian companies and the Chinese market. I just arrived in Beijing actually traveling from Shenzhen. That [city] is one of the symbols of the technology, the innovation and the development of the Chinese economy. I believe this is one of the key sectors we need to focus as Italian, as European companies, to promote our interactions with the Chinese companies," said Riccardi.
Japanese business leader Osamu Onodera said industries can take up the AI tools to become more productive.
"So AI will allow for data to be shared real-time and also for resources to be allocated more efficiently. And so I think there's a lot of possibility for AI to boost production and also allow for more efficient resource allocation," said Onodera, who is vice chairman of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China.
While being optimistic about the prospect of AI industry and how it will reshape the economy and society, experts also warned investors to be cautious and stressed efforts to accelerate AI maturity.
"I think AI in China will develop substantially and rapidly. Look at what Baidu is doing, for example, in their AI program. [Developing] AI needs a lot of repetition and China is in a great position to do that because of the number of populations and transactions and the information that can flow," said Rani Jarkas, chairman of Cedrus Investments, a Hong Kong-headquartered global boutique investment firm.
"It's amazing technology, but it needs to be developed, needs to be matured slightly more. So we think that there's a lot of hype at the moment and the valuation is very high and investors need to be cautious. However, five, ten years down the road, this technology will be very important for advancing human lifestyle and also in technology too," Jarkas said.
AI to play vital role in future global economic growth: business leaders
