On the afternoon of September 6, the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) came to a successful conclusion. Focusing on the annual theme of "Opening Up for Better Development, Cooperation for Win-win Future", this year's CIFTIS featured 155,000 square meters of exhibitions, 10 forums, 102 thematic forums, 18 side events, and 72 promotional business talks. There were over 2,400 offline exhibitors and more than 6,700 online exhibitors. As of noon on the 6th, the number of visitors had approached 280,000, and more than 1,100 achievements had been made, suggesting the fair’s further enhanced international participation and influence.
During the 2023 CIFTIS, ministerial-level guests and representatives from 42 countries and regions, as well as envoys from relevant countries in China, and representatives of international organizations attended the CIFTIS offline, with nearly 800 participants on-site and 300 online.
Compared with its previous editions, the 2023 CIFTIS saw increased international participation. Eighty-three countries and international organizations hosted exhibitions in the name of governments or headquarters, an increase of 12 over the previous year. Eight of these countries and international organizations hosted exhibitions for the first time, and the United Kingdom, the guest country of honor, assembled its largest-ever delegation since its first-time participation. Among the offline exhibitors, more than 20 percent were international companies, including more than 500 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry-leading enterprises, covering 28 of the top 30 countries and regions in the trade in services. The CIFTIS’s “circle of friends” has been further expanded.
During this year's CIFTIS, more than 100 forums and conferences were held, and more than 100 authoritative reports were released, such as Report on the Development of China's International Trade in Servicess, Digital Trade: Development and Cooperation 2023, World Tourism Cities Development Report 2022, and Chinese Pharmaceutical Enterprise R&D Index White Paper, leading the new trends and advances in the trade in services. A total of 75 well-known enterprises and institutions released 139 achievements, and 66 of them launched 125 new products and technologies in the fields of artificial intelligence, fintech, healthcare, culture and creativity. A number of notable achievements emerged, including digital maps of industrial belts and digital solutions for smart laboratories.
A series of highlight events made significant impacts. The United Nations held a signing ceremony for the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships, also known as "Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships". Representatives from more than 30 countries attended the ceremony, and 15 countries including Switzerland, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia became the first signatories to the convention. This is the first international convention named after a Chinese city in the maritime field and the second named after Beijing since 2012, filling the gap in international rules on the international validity of judicial sale of ships and addressing the cross-border recognition of judicial sale of ships.
Invest in China Year - The Promotion Conference on Greater Openness in the Services Sector provided an authoritative interpretation of China's policies for greater openness in fields such as intellectual property and released China's best practice cases of comprehensive trials for further opening up of the services sector. Eleven pilot provinces and cities had business talks on 35 projects with domestic and foreign investors, releasing a strong signal of further opening up of the services sector to the world.
The lively atmosphere of business talks during this year's CIFTIS also yielded a series of remarkable results. Nearly 80,000 professional visitors from central-owned enterprises, financial institutions, provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and specialized sectors were invited to the events. A total of more than 1,100 achievements were made in seven aspects, including concluded deals, investment, strategic agreements, authoritative releases, debut innovation and alliance platforms.
(Source: Beijing Daily)