A billboard with the slogan of "Global Services, Shared Prosperity" is seen at the China National Convention Center in Beijing on September 12, 2024, to welcome visitors to the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS). A total of 85 countries and international organizations attended the 2024 CIFTIS. Portugal, France and Nigeria are among 13 countries and international organizations to have set up an independent booth at CIFTIS for the first time. Photo: VCG

Australia will be the guest country of honor at the 2025 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), leading its largest-ever delegation to the event. With more than 70 countries and international organizations set to participate, the fair will underscore its growing role as a platform for global engagement.

This year's CIFTIS, will take place from September 10 to 14 in Beijing, and 54 countries and 21 international organizations are set to participate in the exhibitions.

Australia, the guest country of honor for the first time, will bring about 60 enterprises and institutions and hold business matchmaking and promotional activities at the fair, Sima Hong, Beijing's vice-mayor, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

China has long advanced the opening-up of the services industry and continuously shortened the market access negative list, Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Wednesday, noting that with transparent, stable, and predictable policies, it has provided development opportunities for services providers around the world.

Nearly 2,000 enterprises are scheduled to take part on-site, including nearly 500 Fortune Global 500 companies and leading international firms, covering 27 of the world's top 30 countries and regions in trade in services, said Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Sheng Qiuping.

In the first half of 2025, China's total trade in services reached 3.9 trillion yuan ($545.3 billion), up 8 percent year-on-year and hitting a record high for the period. Exports of services stood at 1.7 trillion yuan, up 15 percent, official data showed. 

The rapid growth in services exports mainly came from traditional sectors such as transport and travel, said Sheng, adding that in the second half of 2025, with the continued expansion of key growth sectors and stronger government policy support, China's trade in services is expected to maintain growth, with further improvements in the country's overall trade structure.

Over the past decade, the development of trade in services has consistently outpaced that of goods trade, and its share in global trade has continued to rise. The World Trade Organization predicts that by 2040, the proportion of trade in services in global trade will exceed 30 percent, nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). 

Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday that China's vast market provides international enterprises with broad opportunities and potential economies of scale. "The nation's supportive policies and strong innovation capacity offer huge potential for technological progress, helping global companies enhance competitiveness through cooperation," Wang added. 

In March 2024, the MOFCOM announced that China had rolled out national and pilot free trade zone versions of negative lists for cross-border trade in services to boost opening-up, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Such moves are China's major measures to align itself with high-standard international economic and trade rules and boost institutional opening-up, said the report. 

Wang pointed out that China is an important builder of platforms for international exchanges and cooperation in trade in services, providing opportunities for enterprises from all countries to connect and negotiate. "Against the backdrop of rising global protectionism, the enthusiastic participation of foreign countries in the CIFTIS sends a strong signal of opposing trade protectionism and supporting free trade, underscoring the irreversibility of economic globalization," he said.