Service trade fair good for global economy

The 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, which started on Wednesday and finishes on Monday, is the 10th.

In 2012 when the first CIFTIS was held in Beijing, more than 200 foreign enterprises participated, although of the world's top 500 companies, only 36 took part.

This time more than 1,000 foreign enterprises have participated in the fair, including more than 400 of the global top 500, many of which have participated offline. This shows not only the scale to which the fair has expanded, but also the impetus the fair has injected into the development of China's service industry and its foreign trade in services.

Thanks to the fair and the country's policy of further opening-up, China's foreign trade in services has maintained an average annual growth rate of 6.1 percent, 3.1 percentage points higher than the global growth rate, and its service trade ranked second in the world for eight consecutive years as of 2021.

If foreign trade in services was considered as an opportunity for the country's economic development when CIFTIS was first held a decade ago, it is no exaggeration to say today that foreign trade in services has become one of the important pillars for China's economic growth.

Over the past decade, the added value of China's service industry has increased by 1.49 times, with accumulated imported services exceeding $4 trillion, demonstrating how important foreign trade in services has become for the country's economic cooperation with the global market.

In 2012 when the first CIFTIS was held, the total volume of China's foreign trade in services was $470.58 billion. The figure exceeded $800 billion in 2021.

The success of CIFTIS and the healthy development of China's trade in services have a lot to do with the country unswervingly maintaining its opening-up policy and its continued endeavor to improve its environment for foreign businesses.

China owes its success in economic development to its continual reform and opening-up, which has deeply involved its economy in that of the world. In the process of reform and opening up, China has learned how important it is for a country to engage with the world in such a way that it can benefit from economic cooperation with other countries and at the same time, its participation in globalization has contributed to the development of the global economy.

Against the rising tide of protectionism and unilateralism as well as the uncertainties brought about by the spillover effects from the Ukraine crisis, China's holding of CIFTIS, its international import expo and other economic activities will help boost the world's confidence in globalization and promote the development of the world economy.