People visit the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) at Shougang Park in Beijing, capital of China, September 9, 2026.

[Photo by Xie Han from Xinhua]

The 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) opened on September 9 in Beijing, as China steps up efforts to expand opening-up in services trade at the outset of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Running through September 13 at Shougang Park, a former industrial site and venue for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the fair has drawn participants from 90 countries, regions and international organizations, with over 1,800 companies exhibiting on-site.

Themed "Global Services, Shared Prosperity," this year's CIFTIS features a Global Trade in Services Summit, co-hosted for the first time by the World Intellectual Property Organization. A series of forums and business matchmaking activities will also be held during the fair.

The core exhibition area also debuts a showcase of more than 140 innovation cases spanning all 12 categories of services trade, including artificial intelligence, large language models, and intelligent agents, offering a glimpse of where China's services sector is headed.