Xinhua Silk Road: China int'l service trade fair highlights new features of China's trade, open economy

China is demonstrating its long-lasting pursuit of innovation, inspiration, and willingness for higher-level opening up at the recently concluded 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), which has grabbed the world's attention with new products and new paths of development.

With the theme "openness leads development, cooperation creates a win-win future," the fair was held in Beijing from Sept. 2 to 6. The event has attracted over 500 Fortune 500 enterprises and representatives of 80 countries and international organizations, with the proportion of international participants exceeding 20 percent.

The CIFTIS, one of the world's largest and most comprehensive fairs for trade in services, has attracted many enterprises to debut their new products and new services. It is learned that more than 60 enterprises and organizations in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), financial technology (fintech), healthcare and culture and innovation rolled out their new products and services at the CIFTIS, demonstrating trending innovations in various industries.

AI-powered products and service are penetrating into people's daily life. The process has been accelerated by the CIFTIS as the event contributes to the commercialization of technologies.

As China manufacturing is becoming more intelligent, China's service also gears up for the knowledge-intensive trend, featuring digitalization, intelligence and greenization.

According to data from China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC), exports of digitally deliverable services from China exceeded 251 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 7.8 percent year on year, ranking the fifth place in the world.

Trade in knowledge-intensive services grew 11.7 percent in the January-July period, accounting for 43.2 percent of the country's total trade volume, the data showed.

Chen Jianwei, associate professor at China's University of International Business and Economics, said that the growing share of trade in knowledge-intensive services indicates the country's upgraded and optimized service trade structure.

Besides, the forums and conferences are centering on themes such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), technological innovation and new business forms in the cultural tourism industries, showing that participants are willing to work together and share opportunities.

China is also working on rules and regulations concerning service trade, with an aim to provide better business environment for foreign investors and invite foreign investments in the fields of modern services, energy-saving industry and research and development (R&D) and innovations, according to a senior official at the MOC.