Beijing, 9 Sep (ZXS) -- What positive signals does the CIFTIS release to China's economy as the "circle of friends" continues to expand?

China News Agency reporter Chen Shu

More than 2400,59 enterprises participated in the exhibition offline, 24 countries and 20 international organizations set up exhibitions, and the overall internationalization rate exceeded 2023%...... The <> China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) is being held in Beijing, and the crowded venue interprets the further expansion of the "circle of friends" of CIFTIS and also reveals many positive signals for China's economy.

– Trade in services is developing rapidly

The scale of exhibitors at this CIFTIS has been further expanded, with more than 2400,500 enterprises participating offline, including more than 500 of the world's top 15 and industry leading enterprises, and the total scale of the exhibition is about 5,<> square meters, all of which exceed the previous session. The China National Convention Center in Beijing, where the CIFTIS was held, was bustling with various booths attracting many exhibitors and visitors to visit and negotiate business.

At present, service trade has become an important engine of China's economic growth, and behind the expanding scale of CIFTIS is the rapid recovery of China's service industry and the huge potential of the service trade market.

Wang Shouwen, international trade negotiator and vice minister of China's Ministry of Commerce, said during the CIFTIS that in the first half of this year, the service industry accounted for 56% of China's GDP (gross domestic product), contributed 66% to China's economic growth, and China's total imports and exports of services reached US$2022.8891 billion in <>, ranking second in the world for the ninth consecutive year.

With the accelerated recovery of offline consumption scenarios, China's service consumption has shown a strong recovery momentum since the beginning of this year, and the hot scene of the CIFTIS is also reflecting this trend. The enthusiasm of Chinese tourists has accelerated, and the outbound tourism market has continued to heat up. According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, in the first half of this year, China's import and export of travel services reached 6509.4 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), a year-on-year increase of 65.4%, becoming the fastest growing service trade sector.

In this context, this year's CIFTIS cultural and tourism service theme attracted more than 800 enterprises to participate in the exhibition. With the help of CIFTIS, the potential of China's service trade will also be further released.

– The level of openness has been continuously improved

The internationalization level of exhibitors at this year's CIFTIS has been further improved, with 59 countries and 24 international organizations setting up exhibitions. As the world's second largest consumer market, China has sent a positive signal to accelerate the promotion of high-level opening-up, and seek win-win results in cooperation, which will surely benefit China and help the world.

In recent years, China has issued a series of policies and measures to promote the development of service trade, including promoting the innovative development of service trade, deepening the opening up of the service industry, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of service outsourcing, and strengthening the construction of characteristic service export bases.

Nie Pingxiang, a researcher at the Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce of China, said that in the future, China will accelerate the further relaxation of foreign investment access restrictions in the modern service sector by relying on the comprehensive pilot demonstration of expanding the opening up of the service industry, actively benchmarking against international high-standard system rules, and accelerating the pace of opening up of the service industry.

The favorable opening policy has also further enhanced the attractiveness of the Chinese market. Representatives of foreign enterprises attending the meeting said that CIFTIS sends a positive signal of openness, cooperation and win-win, China continues to promote high-level opening up, and as China's business environment continues to improve, the Chinese market is also increasingly attractive to foreign-funded enterprises.

– Accelerating scientific and technological transformation

Official statistics show that in the first seven months, China's total import and export of services reached 7,36669.1 billion yuan, an increase of 8.1% year-on-year, of which the competitiveness of construction services, telecommunications, computer and information services continued to increase, and the export of advantageous services continued to expand. At the same time, China is accelerating its economic transformation and deploying advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data. According to the "2022 Global Artificial Intelligence Innovation Index Report" released by the China Institute of Science and Technology Information, the Chinese Intelligent Innovation Index has remained the second in the world for three consecutive years, second only to the United States, and has achieved remarkable development results.

This CIFTIS also reflects the characteristics of "new". The comprehensive exhibition and 9 special exhibitions 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 new technologies in the fields of artificial intelligence, financial technology, medical health, culture and creativity, among which many of China's independent research and development of "big powers" and "black technology", showing that China's economy is making great strides towards science and technology and intelligence.

Sheng Qiuping, Vice Minister of Commerce of China, said that CIFTIS will contribute wisdom and strength to deepening international investment cooperation, promoting high-quality economic growth and promoting sustainable development by fully demonstrating new developments and breakthroughs in the field of service trade, sharing new technologies and new achievements. China will comprehensively promote the process of Chinese-style modernization with high-quality development, focus on innovation-driven strategies, use advanced digital technologies such as blockchain, big data, cloud computing and machine learning to accelerate the cultivation of strategic emerging industries, and promote the deep integration of digital economy with advanced manufacturing and modern service industries. (End)