Beijing, August 8 (ZXS) -- Topic: Promoting cooperation to benefit the world The 31 CIFTIS presents three major highlights

China News Agency reporter Chen Shu

The 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) will be held in Beijing from 9 to 2 September. With the theme of "Openness Leads Development, Win-Win Cooperation in the Future", this year's CIFTIS further highlights its internationality and innovation, and is expected to promote win-win cooperation among global merchants and enjoy the dividends of the Chinese market.

The 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services will be held from September 9 to 2 at the China National Convention Center and Shougang Park in Beijing. Photo by China News Agency reporter Tian Yuhao

——Building a platform for cooperation

An important function of CIFTIS is to build a platform for exchange and dialogue on global cooperation, and this year is no exception. The conference will gather visitors from all over the world through various exhibitions and forums, condense consensus from all parties, further play the important role of China's opening up, and promote the development of global service trade.

Chen Chunjiang, assistant minister of the Ministry of Commerce of China, said that since its establishment, CIFTIS has attracted more than 196,60 exhibitors from 200 countries and regions, becoming an important platform for expanding international cooperation in service trade. This year's CIFTIS will focus on international cooperation and offline activities, hold more than <> forums and conferences at a high level, and discuss new concepts, new trends and new paths for the opening and development of the service industry and service trade with other countries in the world. This year's CIFTIS will also hold the "Year of Investment in China" special promotion conference for the expansion of the opening up of the service industry, and the signing ceremony of the Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships, an international convention of the United Nations, for the first time.

At present, the preparatory work for CIFTIS has been prepared. The scale of exhibitors at this year's CIFTIS has expanded, with a total of more than 2400,500 enterprises participating offline, including more than 500 of the world's top 15 and industry leading enterprises, with a total exhibition scale of 5,59 square meters, all exceeding the previous session. The internationalization and specialization level of exhibitors have improved. 24 countries and 12 international organizations set up exhibitions, a total of 20 more than the previous edition, and the overall internationalization rate exceeded <>%.

——Adding momentum to the world

Since the beginning of this year, with the accelerated recovery of offline consumption scenarios, China's consumption of catering, tourism and other services has shown a strong recovery momentum. Especially in the past summer, tourism has shown a spurt of development. According to the China Tourism Research Institute, the number of domestic tourists in China will reach 7.8 billion from July to August, and outbound tourism will also usher in a rapid recovery.

According to the latest official data, from January to July this year, China's import and export of travel services reached 1.7 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), an increase of 7681.3% year-on-year, continuing to be the fastest growing service trade sector. Among them, exports increased by 66.2% and imports increased by 55%.

The outbound tourism market continues to heat up, indicating that Chinese tourists' confidence in tourism consumption is accelerating and their enthusiasm for travel is accelerating, bringing benefits to the global economy. In this context, this year's CIFTIS cultural and tourism service theme attracted a total of 817 enterprises to participate in the exhibition. Among them, there are 500 of the world's top 47 and industry leading enterprises.

Chen Chunjiang said that this year, CIFTIS will continue to give full play to the three major platform functions of expanding opening up, deepening cooperation and leading innovation, and strive to build CIFTIS into the world's most influential service trade event, injecting new impetus into the development of the world economy.

"China has always been one of the world's leading consumers of outbound tourism, and many Chinese tourists have created huge benefits for the development of international tourism, and also promoted the growth of world trade and economic recovery." Wang Dongtang, Director General of the Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services of the Ministry of Commerce, said that he believes that through the joint efforts of all parties, China's travel service trade will continue to grow rapidly, making positive contributions to international tourism and global economic recovery.

——Led by innovation

In recent years, the pace of digital transformation of trade in services has been accelerating. According to World Trade Organization (WTO), digital technologies will boost global trade growth by 2030.1 to 8 percentage points per year by 2.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, in 2022, China's import and export volume of digitally delivered services will reach 2.51 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%, ranking fifth in the world, and the scale will hit a record high. In the first half of this year, China's service exports that can be digitally delivered increased by 16%, 21.9 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of service exports, and the digitalization process of service trade was further accelerated. New technologies and products such as digitalization and intelligence are becoming new growth engines for service trade.

CIFTIS is also aware of this trend. It is understood that this year's CIFTIS will further highlight the leading role of scientific and technological innovation, model innovation and format innovation, comprehensive exhibition and 9 special exhibitions will focus on chip technology, quantum measurement and control, satellite remote sensing, artificial intelligence, digital medical and other specialized and special new achievements, more than 60 enterprises and institutions will launch a number of new products and technologies in the fields of artificial intelligence, financial technology, medical health, culture and creativity, leading the industry innovation trend, and injecting new vitality and impetus into the development of service trade. (End)