The scale of service trade has grown significantly, and the "the Belt and Road" service trade cooperation has broad prospects
The 2023 China International Trade in Services Fair is being held in Beijing. Yesterday, the sixth "the Belt and Road" Service Trade Cooperation Forum was held during the CIFIT. Chinese and foreign guests said that with the gradual deepening of the cooperation mechanism and the gradual improvement of the cooperation network, the the Belt and Road service trade cooperation will usher in greater development opportunities.
In recent years, the scale of global service trade has been continuously increasing, with an average growth rate exceeding that of goods trade. The World Trade Organization predicts that by 2040, the proportion of service trade in global trade will reach 50%, and its proportion in global trade will rise to one-third. At the forum, the guest said that in recent years, the scale of service trade between China and countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road" has grown significantly.
Dorothy Tengbo, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations International Trade Center: As we often mentioned, China's trade share with countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road" has increased from 25% in 2013 to 33% in 2022, with an average annual growth rate of 8%. In terms of service trade, the share of China and countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road" has also increased to 15% of China's total service trade.
![The scale of service trade has grown significantly, and the "the Belt and Road" service trade cooperation has broad prospects](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/7a276f66e97a1f05477ab60a2adb1eab.jpg)
The guest said that the deepening of service trade cooperation with countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road" is of great significance not only to the transformation of economic development, social equity and development of countries along the "the Belt and Road", but also to the "Belt and Road" initiative itself.
Long Guoqiang, Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council: Service trade itself has the characteristics of green, low-carbon, high added value, and strong spillover, which helps to upgrade a country's industrial structure and competitiveness.
The forum guests said that China should follow the current trend of digitalization of service trade and make full use of its industrial foundation and technological advantages to continuously expand the breadth and depth of service trade with countries along the "the Belt and Road".
![The scale of service trade has grown significantly, and the "the Belt and Road" service trade cooperation has broad prospects](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/dcc3d141ecd749c6457dc6fe4d78fcea.jpg)
Former Vice Minister of Commerce Yi Xiaozhun: With the rapid rise of new generation information technologies represented by big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence, China fully utilizes its technological advantages to guide digital trade to gradually shift towards knowledge intensive services. On the other hand, China's active practice in digital trade rules, digital security, and digital value chain also provides reference and support for soft connectivity of countries along the "the Belt and Road".