The fifth Global Digital Trade Expo (GDTE) is held from September 23 to 27 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Jointly hosted by the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government and the Ministry of Commerce, and organized by the Hangzhou Municipal Government, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce and the ministry's Trade Development Bureau, GDTE is China's only national-level, international and professional exhibition dedicated to digital trade. Premier Li Qiang attended the launch ceremony and related activities and delivered an address.
Under the annual theme "Meet the AI Future at GDTE" and the main thread of "artificial intelligence empowering digital trade," the expo covers 170,000 square meters. It adopts a "1+6+1" layout—one digital trade theme pavilion, six distinctive industry zones and one digital trade innovation and integration zone. Following a curatorial concept of being "reachable, interactive and tradable," it presents a full picture of the infrastructure, core technologies, application scenarios and future trends of AI-enabled digital trade. Malaysia and Hungary serve as guest countries of honor, and Hainan Province as the guest province of honor.
Both the scale and international profile have risen. The number of exhibitors has reached 2,008, including 402 international companies, 996 AI enterprises and 55 Fortune Global 500 firms. More than 50,000 professional buyers from 163 countries and regions have registered, including over 12,000 international visitors, with a pre-arranged international procurement list worth US$1.085 billion. AI runs through the entire show, with robots from firms such as Unitree, AI chip arrays, brain-computer interfaces and quantum computing on display.
On the agenda are 50 key events, including the Silk Road E-commerce Day, Digital Trade Africa Day, the BRICS Special Economic Zones Hangzhou Dialogue, the Digital Trade and Artificial Intelligence Dialogue, the Digital Trade Venture Capital Day, and the 2026 "AI + Home Services" themed event—forming a complete trade-promotion chain of exhibition, forums and matchmaking.
The supporting services reflect the professionalism of a national-level expo. Hangzhou Customs operates a one-stop on-site service desk for customs clearance consultation and intellectual property protection, while its online "Red Boat Enterprise Voyage" big-data platform pools trade policies covering technical measures from 190 countries and regions, RCEP tariff concessions and cross-border e-commerce, using AI to match policies to individual firms. Organizers also teamed up with 22 scenic spots and entertainment venues across the province to offer ticket-stub discounts, extending the expo's consumption spillover.
At China's invitation, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Kyrgyz Prime Minister Adylbek Kasymaliev attended the launch ceremony. The expo is open to the public from 1 p.m. on September 24 through September 27. As a key window into China's digital trade opening and the rollout of "AI+," GDTE's value as an exhibition platform keeps growing.