Lai Youwei, deputy director of the General Office of the State Council's Development Research Center, said he believes digital trade has become a new mode of trade thanks to the extensive application of modern information technology and the boom in the digital economy.

The development of digital trade will affect the global trade pattern, yet the related international rules are incomplete and lag far behind the practice.

He said setting rules on digital trade serves the core of international trade in the 21st century and that their establishment will have significant influence on bilateral, regional and multilateral trade rules, trade structure and trade concessions.