Expo to boost trade with Eurasian countries

The China International Fair for Trade in Services will build a more convenient service trade cooperation platform for China and Eurasian countries, a senior Chinese expert on international trade told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Thanks to the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, China's service trade with Eurasian countries has developed rapidly in recent years, noted Liu Huaqin, director and researcher at the Eurasian Institute of the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute under the Ministry of Commerce.

The continuous promotion of bilateral cooperation in the field of service trade will contribute to the sustainable development of the BRI, she said.

Most Eurasian countries are located along the China-Europe Express Railway, she noted. In the first half of this year, the express line ran 5,122 trains, up 36 percent year-on-year. That increase strongly promoted the development of transportation services between China and its neighboring countries.

In terms of travel services, Belarus, Russia and other countries have provided Chinese people with policies including visa-free group tours to promote the prosperity of local tourism, she noted. Contracted projects under the BRI framework have also driven the development of construction services.

"Though the continuous spread of the novel coronavirus impacted some traditional areas of service trade, it has also built up new momentum for service trade cooperation between China and Eurasian countries," Liu said.

The fastest growth amid the epidemic has been seen in the services based on digital economy, including cross-border e-commerce, telecommuting services, and wireless payment services, she said.

"In medical services there has been a rapidly developing new format amid the pandemic," she added, taking the Urumqi cross-border telemedicine platform as an example. According to Liu, the platform, jointly built by the local government and enterprises, offers services in four languages: Chinese, English, Russian and Arabic. It connects more than 100 hospitals in nine neighboring countries, and has the potential to expand its service to other countries and regions.

The development of trade in services can promote trade in goods and investment and foster new growth points, she noted.