CIFTIS a sign of high-quality growth, Xi says

President Xi Jinping reaffirmed on Thursday China's commitment to advancing high-quality development through high-level opening-up and further opening its service market in an orderly manner, in a congratulatory message to the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services.

The CIFTIS, which has been successfully held for 10 years, is a vivid testament to the high-quality development of China's service sector and trade, the president said.

The 2024 CIFTIS, themed "Global Services, Shared Prosperity", is seeing the participation of more than 80 countries and international organizations. The event has attracted over 900,000 exhibitors and participants from 197 countries and regions since its inception.

Xi stressed in his message that the nation will remain dedicated to improving the mechanisms for high-level opening-up, innovating and bolstering trade in services and proactively aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules.

In doing so, China seeks to promote the interoperability and compatibility of regulations, standards and management in the services sector, while steadily expanding market access and enhancing platforms for open service trade, he said.

He also reiterated Beijing's emphasis on fostering a world-class business environment that is in line with market principles, the rule of law and international standards.

With this commitment, China aims to collaborate with all nations to embrace the trends of economic globalization, share opportunities and jointly promote growth, he added.

In a keynote speech delivered at the opening ceremony, Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang said the fact that Xi has delivered important video addresses or sent congratulatory letters for six consecutive years to the fair speaks volumes about the nation's unwavering commitment to promoting high-quality development through high-level openness.

Ding highlighted the nation's readiness to advance pilot programs for the expansion of openness in areas such as cloud computing, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, while promoting the integration of service trade with high-end manufacturing.

The nation will enhance the level of openness in its free trade agreements and take proactive steps to further open up, and will open doors wider to the least-developed countries, he stressed.

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce showed that the value of China's trade in services in 2023 reached 6.57 trillion yuan ($922.65 billion), up 10 percent year-on-year.

This momentum continued in the first seven months of 2024, with the country's total value of service trade growing 14.7 percent year-on-year to 4.23 trillion yuan.

Jack Chan, chairman of EY China and regional managing partner of EY Greater China, said his company is taking part in the CIFTIS for the fifth consecutive year as it eyes digitalization and green transformation.

Knowledge-intensive service trade has increasingly become a key growth driver and focal point for the development of China's trade in services, he noted.

China's trade in services is evolving toward new and intelligent frontiers amid widening market access, and the country's series of opening-up policies and pragmatic steps are set to propel "Chinese services" to higher levels, Chan added.

Xu Shaofeng, senior vice-president of Schneider Electric, also a five-time CIFTIS participant, said: "Amid the new landscape of both opportunities and challenges, we will leverage the international platform of CIFTIS to explore new paths of service innovation with more partners, contributing to China's economic growth."

In addition to signing a service cooperation agreement with Hebei province-based Jingye Group during the CIFTIS this year, the French industrial and technology company announced the establishment of its China services hub during the grand event.

Mohammed Al Ajlan, chairman of the Saudi-Chinese Business Council, said he has witnessed tremendous changes and maintained long-term confidence in China's high-quality economic development and increasing openness, especially in the areas of trade in services and technology growth, since his company's entry into the Chinese market.

With closer China-Saudi political and business ties, cooperation between Saudi and Chinese companies will deepen and solidify, he said.

"We aim to facilitate the implementation of advanced concepts, technologies, products and services in Saudi Arabia through platforms such as the CIFTIS."