China services trade fair to bring opportunities to global businesses

This photo taken on Sept. 1, 2023 shows an interior view of the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China.(Xinhua/Hao Jianwei)

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) will bring huge business opportunities to enterprises from home and abroad seeking to tap into the vast Chinese market with their products and services.

With the theme "openness leads development, cooperation creates a win-win future," the fair is scheduled to take place in Beijing from Sept. 2 to 6. The event has attracted over 2,200 enterprises and representatives of 75 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 demonstrated China's active role in working with other countries to promote trade in services and drive global economic recovery.

"Against the backdrop of the volatile international situation and fragile world economic recovery, the CIFTIS offers the Chinese opportunities for the global services industry and trade in services," said Bai Ming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.

For the first time, the fair will host an investment promotion event on the further opening-up of the services industry to share Chinese growth opportunities with global businesses.

China's services industry has provided crucial support for high-quality economic development and opened up new space for economic and trade cooperation.

In 2022, China's services imports and exports grew 12.9 percent year on year to reach a record high of nearly 6 trillion yuan (about 835.8 billion U.S. dollars), ranking second in the world for the ninth consecutive year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

China's continuous opening up and optimization of its business environment, and active promotion of the digitalized and green development of trade in services are of great benefit to both domestic and foreign businesses, said Gu Fan, general manager of Growth Acceleration, Amazon Web Services Greater China.

Gu said his company will continue to tap into the Chinese market with further investment, and he is looking forward to assisting more companies with their sustainability visions.

The green and low-carbon drive is a major feature of the event, which has several related themed forums and exhibitions of cutting-edge green services, technologies and business models.

People in fields such as supply chain, IT, construction and finance are closely watching opportunities brought by the global low-carbon scenario, especially the vast opportunities brought by China's dual carbon targets, said Qin Hu, vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and chief representative of EDF's Beijing Representative Office.

Green and low-carbon services are becoming new growth drivers of global trade, Qin said.

Eyeing the business opportunities in China, Ajlan &Bros Group, one of the largest enterprises of Saudi Arabia in China, is attending the fair for a second straight year.

Mohammed Al Ajlan, deputy chairman of Ajlan &Bros Group, said the company will this year further tap bilateral economic and trade cooperation potential and help investors from the two countries achieve higher-level cooperation and win-win in emerging fields such as 5G, AI, and financial technology.

China's continuous opening up in trade in services will help unleash further opportunities for global investors.

The Ministry of Commerce said in August that it would promote the introduction of negative lists for cross-border trade in services and cultivate new business modes and models for trade in services and create new growth drivers for services exports.

"China's trade in services still has great growth potential and opportunities," said Liu Chunsheng, an associate professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics.