CIFTIS showcasing resiliency in moving past China's outbreak

Companies, officials praise international fair for growing influence on world service landscape

The 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services, or CIFTIS, is an important platform for China to promote a new round of high-level opening-up and demonstrates its sense of responsibility for the international community. It is also of great significance to the recovery of global economy, Chinese officials and heads of international institutions said.

The six-day fair, which opened on Friday evening in Beijing, is the first large global trade event held offline since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yan Ligang, head of the Beijing Commerce Bureau, said: "By displaying the latest products, technologies and results of the global trade in services, CIFTIS will help promote the mutual sharing and exchanges in global services trade and improve the global competitiveness of China's services trade."

Stephen Perry, chairman of The 48 Group Club, an independent business network committed to promoting trade and cultural links between the United Kingdom and China, told China Central Television that China has made great achievements in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the context that global service sector has been seriously affected by the pandemic, China's persistence in hosting such an international exhibition on services trade demonstrates its sense of responsibility for the international community and is of great significance to the recovery of global economy, Perry said.

"Globally, China has become an important contributor to the growth of global trade in services," Xinhua quoted Fan Shijie, deputy director-general of the department of trade in services and commercial services at the Ministry of Commerce, as saying.

Trade in services, literally, refers to buying and selling services. According to the World Trade Organization, trade in services covers 12 major sectors, including commerce, communication, construction and related engineering, finance, entertainment, culture and sports, tourism, education and environment.

Over the past 15 years, the average annual growth rate of China's services export was 1.6 percentage points higher than that of the world, and the cumulative value of China's service imports has reached $4.5 trillion, according to Fan.

Debuted in 2012, CIFTIS has developed into one of China's three major exhibitions featuring the country's opening-up. The other two are the China Import and Export Fair, or the Canton Fair, in Guangdong province and the China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

With a total of 190 forums and negotiation activities to be held, the 2020 CIFTIS has invited international organizations, embassies in China, foreign business associations, institutions and enterprises from 148 countries and regions, an official from the Beijing government said at a news conference on Thursday.

International organizations－including the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Food Programme, the International Banking Federation, the World Trade Centers Association and the World Tourism Cities Federation－will discuss on topics of intellectual property rights protection, food supply chain, a creative economy, fintech and the resumption of world tourism.

More than 20 foreign embassies and business associations in China will hold promotional events during the six-day event.

A total of 18,000 domestic and foreign companies and institutions registered online and offline to participate in the exhibition, and more than 100,000 people registered to participate, said Yang Jinbai, Beijing's vice-mayor.

More than 70 senior executives with the 43 of the world's top 500 companies and 20 transnational companies have confirmed to attend the 2020 CIFTIS, according to the organizer.