Tech companies and startups should grasp the opportunities offered by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an executive said Thursday at the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual meeting 2019.

Illustrations: VCG

“New tech companies and some startups should grasp the opportunity brought by the BRI,” Tian Ning, CEO of Chinese tech company Panshi told the People’s Daily in Boao, south China's Hainan Province.

On the one hand, Chinese tech companies have been leading the world in some fields with mature technology, production, and services. On the other hand, the Chinese government has been promoting cultural and people-to-people exchanges with countries along the Belt and Road, said Tian.

Launching RockyMobi, an overseas subsidiary of an internet content provider in 2015, Tian wants to provide overseas users with mobile content like games, videos, and Chinese language learning. 

Tian said, "We try to explore the markets of BRI countries, we see a huge potential with mobile networking along the BRI countries and regions."

He believed that demand is booming for mobile content services in overseas markets, and especially for the markets along the Belt and Road. At the same time, people need more original content about China.

Some experts from the industry are calling Panshi "the Oriental Netflix," due to the fact that the two companies are both platform companies that have a similar business model, and the main products of the company are videos.

Building a quality content platform needs patience, and Tian is ambitious. “Our goal is to break the information barrier, and provide global citizens with required digital economy services and products,” he said.