The new crown pneumonia epidemic has posed a huge challenge to the economic development of all countries, and it has hit Africa, the continent with the largest concentration of developing countries, particularly hard. The African continent is facing its first economic recession in 25 years, with economic losses caused by the epidemic reaching as high as 99 billion U.S. dollars. As the economic development momentum is interrupted by the epidemic, Africa is very likely to become the continent that will achieve economic recovery from the epidemic at the latest.

In the post-pandemic era, Africa must find new engines if it wants to quickly recover its economic development. As a new economic form, the digital economy plays an important role in the development and restructuring of the global economy. For Africa, seizing the development opportunities of the digital economy is expected to achieve economic transformation and development. To this end, China-Africa cooperation will continue to expand in breadth and depth, and China will gradually become an important force in promoting Africa's digital transformation. This will also be the focus of the future "Hongqiao International Economic Forum". Strengthening China-Africa digital cooperation, It is recommended to cut in from the following three aspects.

The first is to strengthen China-Africa cooperation and strategic communication. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has entered a new 20 years. China and Africa should seize the opportunity to jointly build the "Digital Silk Road", improve the scale of the digital economy, and promote the all-round development of China-Africa digital economic cooperation. The governments of China and Africa can form a top-level design under the strategic framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and arrange China-Africa digital economy cooperation. Policy coordination in the field of China-Africa digital economy cooperation. At the same time, the main body of China-Africa digital cooperation should not be confined to the government, and should promote Chinese and African enterprises, scientific research institutions and social organizations to seize the opportunities of digitalization in Africa, actively participate in African digital projects, promote the connection of China-Africa projects, and share digital dividends .

The second is to improve and strengthen the construction of digital infrastructure. Infrastructure plays an irreplaceable role in the development of the digital economy, but the digital infrastructure of most African countries is relatively backward, and the overall development level is not high. In the future, the Chinese government should increase its assistance to Africa's digital infrastructure, and jointly support Africa's construction of large-scale infrastructure such as optical fibers, base stations, and cross-regional communication networks by expanding hybrid development financing and tripartite development financing. At the same time, many Chinese companies are very interested in the field of African digital economy. China can support Chinese companies in the form of technical assistance to widely participate in African countries in the fields of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of Things, communications and other fields. Technical cooperation will help Africa solve the serious technical problems of fragmented digital economic development, bridge the gap between China and Africa in digital economic development, and share the fruits of digital economic development.

The third is to strengthen personnel training and education cooperation. Compared with the traditional economy, the digital economy has higher technical content and higher requirements for relevant practitioners, and the support of high-tech talents is a solid foundation for the development of the digital economy in China and Africa. To this end, China should help African countries to establish and improve the construction of digital economy-related disciplines, create a digital economy talent training mechanism, and jointly cultivate professional technical talents. At the same time, with the help of the people-to-people and cultural exchange channels that have been established between China and Africa, such as the "Excellence Scholarship Program for Studying in China" established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education, outstanding young Africans can be sent to China to study digital economy-related knowledge and participate in scientific research institutions, universities and major universities. Training and exchange activities organized by enterprises and social organizations to enhance the digital skills of African people. In addition, in view of the current severe epidemic situation, a combination of online and offline methods can be adopted to conduct skills training for relevant practitioners, so as to cultivate a group of high-tech and cutting-edge technical talents urgently needed by African countries. Keywords: One Belt One Road, One Belt One Road News, One Belt One Road Project

The global spread of the new crown epidemic has further highlighted the importance of the digital economy. The development of the digital economy is of great significance to promoting poverty reduction, realizing economic development and transformation in Africa, and even participating in globalization, and has become a new path for the contemporary information society to build a community of shared future and interests between China and Africa.Editor/XuNing