What is the attraction of the Service Trade Fair? What are the new changes?

On September 2nd, the 5-day 2023 China International Trade in Services Fair kicked off in Beijing. The current Service Trade Fair, with the theme of "openness leading development and win-win cooperation for the future", has attracted more than 2400 domestic and foreign enterprises to participate offline, including more than 500 Fortune Global 500 and industry leading enterprises, covering 28 countries and regions in the top 30 of service trade, with an overall internationalization rate of over 20%. In the first year of the comprehensive resumption of offline exhibitions in China, the influence of the Service Trade Fair continues to expand.

This year's Fair for Trade in Services has increased its offline invitation efforts, setting up six types of activities including global service trade summit, exhibition display, forum and conference, promotion and negotiation, achievement release, and supporting activities. More than 60 enterprises and institutions will launch a batch of new products and technologies in fields such as artificial intelligence, financial technology, and healthcare, leading the trend of industry innovation.

Zhao Qizhou, Director of the Beijing International Service Trade Affairs Center, is fully responsible for the preparation, promotion, exhibition and hosting of the Service Trade Fair.

Zhao Qizhou, Director of the Beijing International Service Trade Affairs Center: In the achievement exhibition area, you can see some of the latest progress in the field of service trade and the expansion and opening up of the service industry. For example, we showcased successful commercial rockets launched using liquid oxygen methane boosters, and we are pushing for more cooperation on the Service Trade Fair platform.

The predecessor of the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) was the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), which was held in Beijing since 2012. In 2019, it was renamed as the China International Fair for Trade in Services, and in 2020, it was renamed as the China International Fair for Trade in Services. In this year, in order to create the "most influential international first-class exhibition of service trade in the world", in the context of the spread of the epidemic and the severe and complex global economic and trade situation, the Service Trade Fair began to improve its quality and innovate its development.

Since 2020, facing many new situations and challenges, the Fair for Trade in Services has been successfully held for four consecutive sessions.

Zhao Qizhou, Director of Beijing International Service Trade Affairs Center: Currently, this year's Service Trade Fair has attracted 83 countries and regions, with 8 more exhibitions and events held under the name of headquarters and countries compared to last year. In the international environment or the entire exhibition industry, maintaining such a large volume and scale in this downward trend indicates that the attractiveness of this exhibition is still present.

In recent years, the Fair for Trade in Services has continuously improved its approach to organizing exhibitions and conferences. In 2020, the Service Trade Fair innovatively adopted an "online+offline" exhibition model, attracting 22000 enterprises and institutions from 148 countries and regions to participate in both online and offline exhibitions. In 2021, the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) opened the Shougang Industrial Park for the first time, forming a "one session, two locations" exhibition pattern with the National Convention Center. In 2023, based on the "one session, two locations" exhibition, the CIFTIS opened the National Sports Center for the first time in the National Convention Center area, serving as the main venue for environmental service themed exhibitions, with an offline exhibition scale of 155000 square meters.

Due to limited space conditions, the booths of the 2023 Service Trade Fair are approaching saturation.

Zhao Qizhou, Director of the Beijing International Service Trade Affairs Center: May I ask how large an area have you been this year? I want to ask this year, next year, and in two more years, I won't be able to improve. The spatial volume is here. What can be improved is the quality of our service guarantee level. We have done some work around how to make it convenient for exhibitors and buyers to participate in the exhibition. In the current situation of one venue and two locations, we need to ensure good transportation between them. For example, this year we will use buses to ensure commuting between the two places, with no more than 15 minutes per trip, running on opposite sides.

How to continuously improve and enhance the level of supporting services from hardware and software has become the top priority of the preparation work for this year's Service Trade Fair.

Zhao Qizhou, Director of the Beijing International Service Trade Affairs Center: The exhibition hall of the National Convention Center consists of the National Convention Center and the National Sports Center, two points in a small area. In order to facilitate participation, we implement integrated management, allowing visitors to enter at once and pass through two places after entering; We have also developed a tour route for professional visitors, with professional guides to focus on topics that interest them and guide them to visit some key enterprises. These are all the supporting services we provide for in-depth exploration.

The Fair also focuses on providing more derivative services for exhibitors, effectively creating greater value and benefits for them.

Zhao Qizhou, Director of the Beijing International Service Trade Affairs Center: Some of the products we exhibited during the Service Trade Fair can enjoy some preferential policies during the trade fair, which may be related to taxation or customs import clearance facilitation; In terms of organizing professional audiences, we have been building an exhibitor federation to gather high-quality purchasing resources into a group. There are many professional audiences holding many buyers and sellers on one hand, and combining these two resources together will maximize the benefits and scale.

Green, environmental protection, and low-carbon are the highlights of this year's Service Trade Fair. In the exhibition area of the National Stadium, there are four special zones: low-carbon energy, carbon neutral green technology, climate and carbon economy, and circular economy. In addition, the "carbon neutrality" project was introduced, and the concept of "zero carbon service trade" was proposed.

Zhao Qizhou, Director of the Beijing International Service Trade Affairs Center: This has been continuously developed with the progress of technology and materials. Previously, when we held meetings, we built a big background board, and the next meeting would throw away a background board. We are now using electronic screens for display, only replacing the screen without any other waste. In the past, how much illumination was needed for lighting, what kind of lamp tubes were used, but now they are all LED, which is more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. In fact, this will actually lower the cost for us as the organizers, and the money spent by customers will also decrease. Everyone is saving resources and reducing expenses, achieving good results. Why not do this.

Zhao Qizhou, Director of Beijing International Service Trade Affairs Center: We have two guest provinces this year, one is Guizhou and the other is Shandong. This will bring more cooperation opportunities to their excellent enterprises in the province.

According to convention, this year's Fair for Trade in Services has both a province and a country of honor.

In the exhibition area of the British business delegation, the first thing that catches the eye is the London Bridge style design, symbolizing the construction of a bridge for communication and exchange between China and Britain.

British Trade Ambassador to China Du Tao: Being a guest of honor this year is a very good platform, and strengthening our cooperation in service trade can lead to new commercial achievements. The UK is a major service trading country, and some of the better services can be provided to Chinese partners. For example, the financial industry, medical services, and environmental services and products are all available. There are also many Chinese companies participating in the Fair for Trade in Services, and there are also many outstanding companies. We warmly welcome them to our UK Pavilion.

Since 2012, the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) and its predecessor, the Beijing International Fair, have attracted more than 600000 merchants from 196 countries and regions, as well as over 600 foreign associations and institutions from various countries and regions to participate in the exhibition, becoming an important platform for China to expand international cooperation in service trade. Especially since the upgrade in 2020, the Fair for Trade in Services has truly developed into the largest comprehensive exhibition in the global service trade field.

Zhao Qizhou, Director of Beijing International Service Trade Affairs Center: The first aspect of our benefits is that we have formed a relatively good international public product, enhanced our country's leading and speaking power in the field of service trade, served the convergence of global resources to our country, and exported our high-quality resources to the world. This is the best benefit we have achieved in the long run.

Currently, the service industry and service trade have become the focus of China's new round of high-level opening up. According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Commerce, China's service trade continued to maintain a growth trend in the first seven months of this year, with a total import and export volume of 3666.91 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%. The quality and competitiveness of China's service trade development have further improved. As an important platform for China to expand opening up, deepen cooperation, and lead innovation, the Fair for Trade in Services will inject new momentum into the development of China and the world economy.

Zhao Qizhou, Director of the Beijing International Service Trade Affairs Center: I hope we all mention the field of service trade. If we want to exchange, communicate, and cooperate, first of all, we need to go to the Service Trade Fair this year to see what new concepts and ideas are emerging; I have to speak my own voice and express my opinions at the Service Trade Fair; We need to reach a certain cooperation and rule formulation at the Service Trade Fair. Our exhibitor said that my most important exhibition plan this year is the Service Trade Fair, which may be a good vision for my future. At the national level, every year during the Fair for Trade in Services, we will continue to expand our policy voice of openness, and our idea of cooperation and inclusive development will continue to be transmitted to the world. Because the permanent slogan of the Service Trade Fair is "Global Service, Mutual Benefit and Sharing", we have always been striving in this direction.