The article below has been translated from Spanish. The original article by Xinhua News Agency can be found here: RESUMEN: México requiere adaptación a economía digital frente a retos globales, según expertos| Spanish.xinhuanet.com (news.cn)

Image: May 9th, 2022, "Digital Inclusion Forum, 2022" held in Mexico City, capital of Mexico. Mexico needs to adapt its digital economy, modeling itself after China, so as not to be left behind and to better adapt to the global challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, participants at the Digital Inclusion Forum, 2022, said on Monday. (Xinhua/Francisco Canedo)

MEXICO, May 10th (Xinhua). Mexico needs to adapt its digital economy, modeling itself after China, so as not to be left behind and to better adapt to the global challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, participants at the Digital Inclusion Forum, 2022, said on Monday.The General Director of Business Support of the Secretariat of Economic Development of the State of Mexico, Julio César Guerrero, explained that digital inclusion must be considered as a "basic service" for Mexican citizens, because otherwise the population will be excluded from participation in the new economy.

"International trade has already changed the rules and if we don't adapt to them, we will be left behind," Guerrero explained at the "Digital Inclusion Forum 2022" , held in Mexico City.

"Aside from the many challenges brought on by the pandemic, the importance of which cannot be overstated, there are also many other global challenges" the expert added.

One of these challenges is improving the country's infrastructure, to better accommodate the exponential growth of e-commerce brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to data from the Mexican Association of Online Sales (AMVO), e-commerce in Mexico has increased by 27 percent in 2021, its third consecutive year of growth. This places the country in the top 5 globally, along with India, Brazil, Russia and Argentina, in terms of year-to-year e-commerce growth.

In this context, the general director of Atomic 88, the company offering local support in Mexico for Alibaba Group, Andrés Díaz, explained that the platform is making efforts to help an increasing number of small and medium-sized Mexican companies enter the China market.

At the event, Alibaba, the National Conference of Governors (CONAGO) and the electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding focusing on offering talent training in digital activities, technology transfer and capacity building.

"Mexico is one of the world’s largest buyers on Alibaba.com, the biggest business to business e-commerce platform worldwide," Díaz told to reporters.

He elaborated that a few years ago his company supported Alibaba in launching "digital villages" in Mexico, to promote the sale of typical Mexican items such as molcajetes (stone mortars), ceramics, tequila and foods such as avocado.

In China, this model has proven to be an effective strategy in fighting poverty, Díaz remarked.

Meanwhile, the director of international government affairs in the Americas for the Alibaba Group, Bill Anaya, highlighted that the digital villages have impacted more than 250 artisan companies, whose incomes have seen a tremendous increase of between 200 and 300 percent.

"At the Alibaba Group, we are very excited of our partnerships in Mexico and the potential for further collaboration," Anaya explained in his speech.

"We live in difficult times, but right now we must create important opportunities to expand access to cross-border business and build a more dynamic and efficient digital economy," he added.

Anaya highlighted that the eWTP platform has contributed to the development of the global infrastructure of the digital economy, as well as the development of policies that promote best practices, such as cross-border free trade zones and pilot projects in electronic commerce of small businesses and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The objective is to contribute to the creation of a global trading system that uses cooperation and technology to be able to empower SMEs, as well as support more inclusive participation in the digital economy and facilitate access to global value chains for sellers and consumers, he added.

In his speech, the coordinator of the global economic impulse of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Leonardo Castañeda, mentioned that the Latin American country reached 84.1 million internet users in 2020, compared to 80.6 million people using the service in 2019.

He additionally pointed out that currently 37 percent of the world's population still doesn’t have access to the internet.

"We are one of the most digitized countries in Latin America," said Castañeda.

According to the government representative digitization in Mexico, and in Latin America in general, has accelerated by up to five times due to the effects of COVID-19, while data traffic has risen by 25 percent.

Image from May 9, 2022, of the technical secretary of the National Conference of Governors (CONAGO), Rolando García Martínez (2-r), the head of the Executive Secretary of Public Policy of the state of Hidalgo and liaison with CONAGO, José Luis Romo Cruz (c), and the general director of Atomic 88 and local partner for Alibaba Group, Andrés Díaz (d), watching a video during the "Digital Inclusion Forum 2022" event, in Mexico City, capital from Mexico. (Xinhua/Francisco Canedo)

Image from May 9, 2022, of the general director of Atomic 88, and local partner for the Alibaba Group, Andrés Díaz, participating at the "Digital Inclusion Forum, 2022", in Mexico City, capital of Mexico. (Xinhua/Francisco Canedo)

Image from May 9, 2022, of the technical secretary of the National Conference of Governors (CONAGO), Rolando García Martínez (2-r), the head of the Executive Secretary of Public Policy of the state of Hidalgo and liaison with CONAGO, José Luis Romo Cruz (c), and the general director of Atomic 88 and local partner for Alibaba Group, Andrés Díaz (d), and the director of International Government Affairs of the Alibaba Group in the Americas, Bill Anaya (2-i), posing during the "Digital Inclusion Forum 2022" , in Mexico City, capital of Mexico.