Officials, specialists to meet at annual World Internet Conference

Internet officials, specialists and activists from home and abroad will get together at an annual world internet conference in China next month, an official from the country's top internet watchdog said on Wednesday.

The Third World Internet Conference is to once again be held in Wuzhen, an ancient town in the eastern province of Zhejiang, from Nov 16 to 18, Ren Xianliang, deputy head of the Cyberspace Administration of China, announced during a news conference.

So far, the conference organizer has sent out invitations to more than 1,200 guests worldwide, including government representatives from countries and international associations, internet or technology tycoons and network professionals, according to a statement by the administration.

It said that several well-known internet enterprises have confirmed their attendance at the conference, such as Baidu, China's largest online search engine; Alibaba, Chinese largest e-commerce service; and Sina Weibo, China's most popular Twitter-like platform.

The theme of this year's conference will be "Innovation-Driven Internet Development for the Benefit of All — Building a Community of Common Future in Cyberspace", it said.

Meanwhile, the conference will hold forums on topical issues, such as mobile internet, big data, law-based internet governance and anti-terrorism online, it said.

In addition, advanced technology and network products and services will be shown and issued at the conference, it added.

In Wuzhen, which is hosting the conference for the second consecutive year, free WiFi and other network-related services will be provided for all participants, it said.