Treaty needed to build digital Silk Road between China and Europe: expert

China and Europe should make a treaty in preparation for building a digital Silk Road and common digital market to sweep the obstacles between the two, said a telecommunication expert on Wednesday.

The two sides should discuss and negotiate on the context, service and intellectual property protection among other issues before creating a common digital market that covering nearly 2 billion population, said Luigi Gambardella, president of ChinaEU, an organization in Brussels that works on better China-EU cooperation in telecommunications, at a sub forum at the ongoing Second World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang province.

The innovation-oriented European economy and manufacturing-industry-developed China economy is very complimentary but there are obstacles in their way of seeking cooperation and integration, said Gambardella.

The obstacles include the differences between their markets, policies towards cyber security, supervision of property protection and the lack of mutual understanding and trust, he added.

China has witnessed a rapid development of its Internet industry over the past two decades. The Internet has profoundly affected almost every facet of Chinese people's lives including communication, transportation, and entertainment.

As of July 2015, the number of Internet users had reached 668 million, the most in the world, according to official figures. All cities and towns, and 93.5 percent of administrative villages in China now have access to the Internet.

Chinese authorities have attached more importance to the Internet, pledging to transform China from a big Internet nation to a great one. The Internet, with better management, will be more open to the world.