On the afternoon of 11 December, the first Global Digital Trade Expo took place in Hangzhou, China, with the participation of leading political figures. Ding Zhongli, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress opened the ceremony. Yi Lianhong, Secretary of Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, Wang Hao, Governor of Zhejiang Province and Sheng Qiuping, Vice Minister of Commerce also addressed the audience.

Before the opening ceremony, Yi Lianhong, Wang Hao, Sheng Qiuping and many municipal leaders visited the Global Migration to 2D barcodes (GM2D) Demonstration Area in Zhejiang, a landmark achievement of the Zhejiang digital reform.

Back in May 2022, the Chinese Zhejiang province (65 million inhabitants), GS1 & GS1 China signed a joint announcement for an ambitious Global Migration to 2D project. This initiative was set with the ambition to implement GS1 2D barcodes for millions of products in the Zhejiang province. Over 7,000 food production companies are taking part in this project and 200 stores of the largest merchandise retail chain in Zhejiang are planned to undertake system upgrades to do POS checkouts with 2D barcodes.

Major GM2D pilot results widely recognised in the main forum

On 12 December, in Zhijiang Digital Trade Main Forum, Sheng Qiuping, Vice Minister of Commerce, Lu Shan, Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province, Yao Gaoyuan, Mayor of Hangzhou and other leaders attended the main forum. Irish Ambassador to China, Ann Derwin, and heads of international organizations delivered video speeches.

Renaud de Barbuat, President & CEO of GS1, praised the progress made in the Global Migration to 2D barcodes (GM2D) project. The first-phase targets of the GM2D Joint Announcement have been substantially exceeded and major breakthroughs have been made in standards, technology and patents. These achievements are very encouraging and have exceeded expectations, as explained by the GS1 President and CEO.

A representative of the Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Marketing Regulation (Zhejiang AMR)released the major phased achievements of the Construction of the GM2D Demonstration Area in Zhejiang. It was very well received by the participants in the forum.

Media reporting on the Zhijiang Digital Trade Main Forum emphasized that the Construction of the GM2D Demonstration Area in Zhejiang is the first in the world. It achieved remarkable results and is of great significance to the industry’s digital supply chain, from global commodity manufacturing to shipment and trading.

The exhibition area has received a number of provincial and ministerial leaders, academicians and other important guests, including delegations from 11 cities in Zhejiang, foreign guests, enterprise teams and thousands of visitors.

Pan Yunhe, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Zhejiang University, visited the exhibition and listened to the innovative achievements and applications of the Construction of the GM2D Demonstration Area in Zhejiang, and underlined the value of the project.

Municipal leaders from Ningbo, Taizhou, Jinhua and other municipal governments listened to the explanation and introduction of GM2D carefully and learned about the progress and effectiveness of local GM2D pilots across counties (Zhejiang AMR chose 20 pilot counties as GM2D demonstration areas across Zhejiang and asked them to promote GM2D to local industries). Among them, the vice mayor of Ningbo was particularly positive after listening to the GM2D pilot situation in Beilun District (one of 20 GM2D pilot counties) and required Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce to actively participate and establish contact with Ningbo AMR.

In addition to the government group, the exhibition also attracted many business teams and foreign guests. For example, China Commodity Mall showed great interest in the application of GM2D, considering that two-dimensional barcodes can meet the needs of companies to connect upstream and downstream supply chains and optimize their operational process management.