The 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services will open on August 31. Experts said that the service trade fair came as scheduled, which fully demonstrated my country’s confidence and determination to promote a high level of opening up. As an important exhibition platform for my country’s opening to the outside world, the service trade will further play its role, expand the “friend circle” of service trade, and contribute wisdom and strength to the open development of service trade.
The level of specialization is further improved
“At present, my country’s service trade ‘circle of friends’ continues to expand, and the number of countries and regions that have trade in services with my country has increased to more than 200.” Wang Dongtang, director of the Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services of the Ministry of Commerce, said recently.
In this context, as a national, international and comprehensive large-scale exhibition in the field of service trade, the International Service Trade Fair has further improved its internationalization level. Sheng Qiuping, Vice Minister of Commerce, said recently that more than 400 Fortune 500 companies and leading international companies will participate in the exhibition, and the overall internationalization rate will reach 20.8%, an increase of nearly 3 percentage points over the previous session. .
The level of specialization of the Service Trade Fair has also been further improved. Yang Jinbai, deputy mayor of Beijing, said a few days ago that the current service trade fair has added the Global Service Trade Alliance as an international cooperation organization. 71 countries and international organizations set up exhibitions and conferences in the name of countries or headquarters, among which, 10 countries held exhibitions in the name of countries for the first time; among more than 100 conferences and activities, more than 60 were organized by international organizations, embassies in China, overseas institutions and other countries. Held by relevant national ministries and commissions, more than 70 sessions will release industry reports, cooperation initiatives, etc. The scale and quality have exceeded the previous session.
Experts said that the continuous holding of the Service Trade Fair provides an international and professional platform for countries around the world to strengthen service trade cooperation, promotes the growing “friend circle” of my country’s service trade, and provides a platform for enterprises from all over the world to actively integrate into China’s large service market. Opportunities, promoting service trade has gradually become an important part and growth point of my country’s international economic and trade cooperation.
Data from the Ministry of Commerce shows that my country’s total service trade has ranked second in the world for eight consecutive years, and its import value has ranked second in the world for nine consecutive years. In 2021, my country’s total import and export of services will exceed US$800 billion for the first time, a record high and a year-on-year increase of 21%. Among them, the service trade volume with countries along the “Belt and Road” increased by 33% year-on-year, with BRICS countries by 52% year-on-year, and with ASEAN countries by 27% year-on-year.
Boosting the open development of trade in services
Industry insiders believe that since the establishment of the Service Trade Fair, the level of specialization, marketization and internationalization has been continuously improved, which has played an important role in promoting the high-quality development of my country’s service trade. Under the current background of my country’s accelerating the construction of a new system of a higher-level open economy, the holding of the Service Trade Fair will boost the opening and development of my country’s service trade.
The theme of this service trade fair is “service cooperation promotes development, green innovation welcomes the future”. In order to further expand the opening of service fields and promote innovation and development, the Ministry of Commerce recently proposed a series of policy measures, including promoting the implementation of the negative list of cross-border service trade across the country; innovating development models and increasing the digital transformation of traditional service trade fields; upgrading development platforms, Explore the construction of national service trade innovation and development demonstration zones, etc.
Wang Dongtang said that the Ministry of Commerce will continue to expand the opening up of the service industry, continue to promote the innovative development of service trade, promote international cooperation in service trade through external promotion platforms such as the Service Trade Fair, continue to promote the export of emerging services, increase the import of high-quality services, and better promote services. Balanced and coordinated development of trade.
According to Li Jun, director of the Institute of International Service Trade of the Academy of Commerce of the Ministry of Commerce, as an important platform for the country to promote the opening of the service industry and the development of service trade, the service trade will provide opportunities for enterprises to promote digital and service-oriented transformation and development.