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Source: People's Daily

People's Daily, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, July 31At present, the digital economy has become an important engine for economic growth in Latin America. Latin American countries continue to promote the application of digital technology in manufacturing, communications, transportation, agriculture, business, education and other fields, empowering production and life, and striving to improve the digital level of the entire society. Under the framework of jointly building the "Belt and Road", China and Latin American countries have joined hands to tap the growth potential in the digital economy, promote the construction of digital infrastructure, and broaden the breadth and depth of digital technology cooperation, which has become a highlight of the overall cooperation between China and Latin America. Experts said that deepening digital technology cooperation between China and Latin America will further promote the digital transformation of Latin America's economy and society, release new development potential for both sides, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

Digital infrastructure cooperation expands

Latin America's network infrastructure is relatively weak, with 40% of households still lacking fixed broadband access. Latin American countries have a strong demand for digital infrastructure and are vigorously improving their digital infrastructure. China has mature technology and rich experience in the field of digital infrastructure, and the cooperation between the two sides is becoming increasingly close.

Since 2020, in order to solve the problem of lagging broadband construction in Brazil, Huawei has continued to promote local broadband universal connectivity and deployed more than 8,000 kilometers of optical fiber in the Amazon rainforest, enabling 3.7 million residents in the region to access the Internet. In recent years, China Telecom Brazil has completed the construction of network service nodes in Sao Paulo, providing high-quality network services to Chinese companies, multinational companies and international telecom operators in Brazil.

At present, the 5G penetration rate in Latin America is still lower than the global average, and Latin American countries have regarded 5G technology as a new lever for economic recovery. The World Bank report pointed out that 5G digital transformation will help promote economic growth in Latin America and is expected to bring an additional economic output value of US$3.3 trillion to the region by 2035.

In the formulation of 5G standards and commercial solutions, Chinese companies have attracted the attention of telecom operators in Latin American countries with their high cost-effective technologies and services. In 2022, Mexico's mobile communications network operator Mobil used Chinese equipment to build a 5G network in the south of the country. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, Chinese companies participated in the construction of the first local 5G full-coverage factory and established an ecosystem innovation technology center, focusing on 5G technology and artificial intelligence, to help cultivate local high-tech talents.

Mexican media reported that China is a major participant and contributor to 5G global standard research, and Latin American countries should learn from China's 5G development and construction. Fragoso, vice chairman of the Mexico-China Business and Technology Chamber of Commerce, believes that the efforts of Chinese companies in helping Latin America promote digital transformation and improve digital infrastructure are worthy of recognition and reference by Latin American countries.

E-commerce is booming

Currently, China-Latin America e-commerce cooperation is booming. Behar, general manager of Zebra Technologies in Colombia, believes that e-commerce will be an important engine to promote digital transformation in Latin America. In recent years, China and Latin America have made positive progress in cooperation in platform construction and logistics optimization, providing companies on both sides with a broader market space and more convenient trade channels.

According to data released by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the sales of Latin American e-commerce industry will increase by nearly 30% year-on-year to US$509 billion in 2023. According to the survey data of the International Postal Corporation on major markets in Latin America, Chinese e-commerce platforms are very popular in Latin America. Among them, nearly 70% of Brazilian and Chilean consumers have recently placed orders on Chinese cross-border platforms; in Mexico and Argentina, about 40% and 30% of consumers respectively have used Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms to complete their shopping.

At present, Chinese e-commerce platforms are actively increasing their investment in the Latin American market. In 2023, Xiyin, a Chinese e-commerce platform that has been deeply involved in the Latin American market, announced plans to invest 750 million Brazilian reals (1 US dollar is approximately 5.65 Brazilian reals) in Brazil in the next few years, and reached cooperation with 2,000 local clothing manufacturers to form a supply network; another Chinese cross-border e-commerce brand AliExpress has further consolidated its Latin American market by expanding its user base and optimizing logistics routes; social e-commerce platforms such as Douyin Overseas Edition and Kuaishou Overseas Edition continue to upgrade their local businesses; Pinduoduo Overseas Edition has also recently entered the Latin American market and set up sites in Mexico and Chile.

Brazilian mate tea, Cuban rum, Chilean wine, Colombian art coffee, Argentine sirloin steak, Uruguayan high-quality beef ribs... In August 2023, JD.com's Latin American comprehensive national pavilion was launched to build a platform for promoting Latin American specialty products to Chinese consumers. In order to improve logistics efficiency and reduce delivery costs, China and Latin American countries have built multiple "air" and "sea" freight corridors.

Ronnie Lins, director of the Brazilian Center for Chinese Studies, said that Latin American and Chinese trade is highly complementary and has great potential, and China's huge market provides huge opportunities for Latin American countries' trade exports. Pedro, chairman of the Rio Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneurs Committee, said that as Latin American and Chinese business relations become closer, freight exchanges between the two sides will become more direct and efficient.

Assisting the digital transformation of the region

In September 2023, China and Latin American and Caribbean countries issued the "Chongqing Initiative of the China-Latin America and the Caribbean Digital Technology Cooperation Forum", calling on China and Latin America to jointly promote the widespread application of digital technology in education, medical care, agriculture and other fields, and promote the deep integration and innovative development of digital technology and the real economy.

Guangzhou XAG Technology Co., Ltd. has introduced self-developed products such as agricultural drones into the Latin American market to help local farmers carry out precise operations in sowing, fertilizing and applying pesticides. Taking a 180-hectare cocoa plantation in the hilly area of ​​Ecuador as an example, with sufficient labor, workers need at least one month to complete the plantation's plantation spraying operations, while two XAG agricultural drones can efficiently complete the relevant operations within 3 to 4 days. Farmer Luis introduced that XAG agricultural drones can cover large plantations in a short period of time, accurately control the amount and range of pesticide spraying, reduce the waste of pesticides, and are more economical and efficient than traditional manual or mechanical spraying.

At the Lenovo Motorola Industrial Park in Jaguaríuna, Sao Paulo, Brazil, robots are installing chips and transporting materials step by step. In 2014, Lenovo Group acquired Motorola's mobile phone business and set up a factory in the Una Industrial Park, which has become an important regional smart manufacturing center for Motorola. In 2023, Lenovo and the Center for Advanced Research and Systems in Recife, Brazil, jointly developed an AI-based application that can translate Brazilian sign language into Portuguese text and voice. According to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the application may benefit nearly 2.7 million deaf-mute people in Brazil who can only communicate using sign language. Claudio Stopato, Brazil Country Manager of Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Business Group, pointed out that Lenovo provides a full set of digital infrastructure solutions from hardware to software, effectively helping Brazil achieve industrial digitalization and modernization transformation.

In March this year, the first rubber-tyred subway vehicle developed by CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd. and exported overseas, the Mexico City Metro Line 1 vehicle, officially started operation. With the help of Chinese technology, the Mexico City Metro's general control center will achieve semi-automatic control in the future, with full line coverage, and the driving safety and punctuality rate will be greatly improved.

Jose de la Cruz, former director of the Mexican Institute for Industrial Development and Economic Growth, said that China has made significant progress in 5G construction, intelligent transportation transformation and digital economy. Latin American countries should strengthen digital cooperation with China, promote the development of regional digital infrastructure, cultivate a group of digital enterprises in the fields of cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, etc., and promote the upgrading of the digital industrial chain. (Reporter Xie Jianing Chen Haiqi)

People's Daily (August 1, 2024, Page 17)