The World Digital Economy Federation (WDEF) announced the establishment of its Hainan Center as a regional hub designed to advance practical cooperation on digital economy priorities, with an initial focus on digital trade enablement, data governance dialogue, and capacity building for partners across Asia and beyond.
Positioned in Hainan—an area closely associated with trade and services openness initiatives in China—the Center is intended to serve as a convening and project platform. WDEF expects the Hainan Center to support stakeholder engagement among government, industry, academia, and service providers, translating high-level policy discussions into implementable workstreams that can be tested, refined, and scaled.
The Hainan Center will prioritize three near-term work directions:
1) Digital trade facilitation: supporting discussions and pilot-oriented collaboration on digitally enabled services, cross-border e-commerce, and operational issues that affect SMEs, such as interoperability, compliance friction, and trust-building mechanisms.
2) Data governance and secure flows: promoting practical exchanges on responsible data use, cross-border data flow governance, and data security good practices, with attention to legal compliance, risk management, and institutional trust.
3) Capacity building and applied research: developing training, briefings, and research outputs to help stakeholders understand fast-evolving developments in digital policy, technical standards, and digital infrastructure, and to support implementation readiness.
WDEF will use the Hainan Center to host roundtables and working sessions, publish targeted briefings, and explore cooperative initiatives with local and international partners. The goal is to create a durable regional node that helps connect policy intent with real-world implementation, while encouraging inclusive participation and sustained collaboration.
About WDEF
The World Digital Economy Federation (WDEF) is a non-profit organization established to advance international cooperation on digital economy policy, governance, and practical implementation. WDEF supports dialogue, research, and convening to help stakeholders strengthen trust, enable innovation, and expand inclusive participation in the digital economy.
