On April 21, the International Information and Communication Hub Development Forum(IICHDF)—A Pivot of China’s  Opening-up to South and Southeast Asia, was held in Kunming. And a “Kunming Declaration” was released on the development of regional information and communication cooperation efforts.

According to the Kunming Declaration, telecom operators in China’s Yunnan Province and those in South and Southeast Asia, will take advantage of market mechanisms to further enhance information and communication infrastructure connectivity. Together they will explore new models of cross-border land optical cable operations, and build an information expressway to better connect Yunnan to countries of South and Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the two sides will carry out more extensive cooperative endeavors in the field of information and communication. This includes data centres and cloud computing, information call centres, software services outsourcing, information sharing in the arenas of culture, education, health care and other areas. Together they will strive to build intelligent cities, and promote information-based development in South and Southeast Asia.