CIFTIS Photo: VCG

The China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) is scheduled to kick off at Shougang Park in Beijing from September 10 to 14, with nearly 70 countries and international organizations having confirmed their intent to participate as of Monday, according to the event's organizer. 

In the global trade sector, different countries specialize based on their resource endowments and comparative advantages. As one of China's three major trade fairs, the CIFTIS brings together services providers from a wide range of fields, making the prospects for global services trade cooperation even clearer amid rising trade protectionism, Chinese analysts said. 

This year's guest country, Australia, and guest province, East China's Anhui, will both send their largest-ever delegations to the event. Australia will organize nearly 60 institutions and companies to participate, hosting a series of activities covering topics such as finance and consumption, the organizer of the CIFTIS told a press conference on Monday. 

The 2025 CIFTIS will feature nine specialized sections, with more than 800 companies intending to participate on-site, including more than 330 Fortune Global 500 firms and industry leaders. Exhibitors will focus on the annual theme of "Global Services, Shared Prosperity," showcasing new technology application scenarios, solutions, and the services elements behind their products through advanced and intelligent means.

More than 70 companies have applied to release more than 130 new products and achievements during the fair, spanning artificial intelligence, financial technology and other fields. Participating countries and international organizations have also scheduled more than 170 forums, conferences, and promotional events, including the Global Entrepreneurs Summit on Trade in Services and the World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development 2025.

These dynamic showcases and events at the CIFTIS reflect the rapid growth and increasing importance of China's services sector, which has become a key pillar of the national economy, analysts said. 

In 2024, China's tertiary industry achieved an added value of 76.5583 trillion yuan ($10.66 trillion), up 5.0 percent year-on-year, accounting for 56.7 percent of the country's GDP, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in February. 

Li Chang'an, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, said that China has become the world's largest goods trading nation, and hosting the CIFTIS will help the country not only consolidate this position but also move toward becoming a major and strong services trade power. 

At the 2024 CIFTIS, which concluded on September 16 last year, nearly 1,000 deals, investments and other outcomes were reached across seven categories, mainly in construction, finance, and commercial services. As of 12 pm on the closing day, the event had attracted nearly 242,000 attendees, including more than 100,000 professional visitors - up 20 percent from the previous year. 

"China has enormous market demand, especially for services characterized by artificial intelligence and green development, which are expected to emerge even more in the next few years," Hu Qimu, a deputy secretary-general of the Forum 50 for Digital-Real Economies Integration, told the Global Times on Monday.

In the first half of 2025, China's services trade continued to grow steadily, with a total import and export value of 3.887 trillion yuan, up 8 percent year-on-year. Exports reached 1.688 trillion yuan, up 15 percent, while imports hit 2.199 trillion yuan, up 3.2 percent, resulting in a services trade deficit of 510.66 billion yuan, down 152.21 billion yuan from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Knowledge-intensive services trade maintained steady growth, with significant volumes in other commercial services, telecommunication, computer, and information services. Travel services posted the fastest growth, with imports and exports reaching 1.080 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, up 12.3 percent, making it the largest segment in China's services trade.

Hu stated that as industries evolve, the value added by services will account for an increasing share in economic growth, signaling a shift from selling products alone to offering integrated "product-plus-service" solutions, which will in turn drive the growth of the producer services sector.

This shift in industry trends sets the stage for China's recent policy initiatives aimed at further opening up and innovating its services sector.

In April, China rolled out an action plan that aims to expand comprehensive pilot programs to accelerate the services industry's opening-up, which includes 155 pilot tasks across key areas such as the opening of key services sectors and the promotion of industrial innovation and development, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

Aside from permission to carry out comprehensive pilot programs in nine additional cities, including Ningbo and Xiamen, based on 11 previous cities, the plan also included the removal of foreign ownership caps in services areas such as app stores and internet access within the telecommunication sector. It also included support for foreign doctors in opening clinics in China, and support for the development of international factoring services and attracting overseas insurance companies, among other areas, said the report. 

Against the backdrop of rising unilateralism and protectionism globally, China's push to expand voluntary opening-up in an orderly manner represents its concrete efforts to inject more certainty and stability into the world, Ling Ji, vice minister of commerce and deputy China international trade representative, said at a press conference in April.