“It is these areas that today determine the transition from traditional services to high-tech and knowledge-intensive solutions,” Tolonbek Abdyrov, a professor of economics and vice rector of the International Higher School of Medicine in Kyrgyzstan, told Xinhua, noting China’s push in cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, fintech, digital healthcare and online education.

This year’s fair, scheduled from Wednesday to Sunday in Beijing, will highlight how digital and intelligent technologies are reshaping the sector.

“For the international community, for many countries of the world, this means there is an opportunity not only to access modern technologies, but also to participate in new standards of the global market,” he said.

Abdyrov said China continues to improve systems and mechanisms for opening its economy to the world. For developing countries, the professor added, cooperation with China in services offers clear advantages.

A visitor walks past an installation at the venue of upcoming China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) at Shougang Park in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 9, 2025. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

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This year marks the first time the entire fair is being held at Shougang Park, a 3-square-kilometer industrial heritage site and a venue for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. The theme, “Embrace Intelligent Technologies, Empower Trade in Services,” underscores a focus that resonates far beyond China’s borders.

The scale of this year’s CIFTIS is vast, with 85 countries and international organizations — including Australia, Germany and the World Intellectual Property Organization — taking part. Nearly 2,000 companies are exhibiting on-site, including close to 500 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry-leading enterprises like Walmart, AstraZeneca and KPMG. The fair’s participants, notably, come from 26 of the world’s top 30 countries and regions in terms of services trade.

The transformation of the global economy, where services now form the backbone of growth, took center stage in speeches and discussions at the Global Trade in Services Summit, co-hosted on Wednesday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), China’s Ministry of Commerce and the Beijing municipal government.

“Services are no longer a supporting actor in global commerce. They are a driver of growth,” said Johanna Hill, deputy director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She highlighted that the sector accounts for two-thirds of the global economy, half of worldwide employment and 40 percent of trade flows in value-added terms.

Echoing Hill’s comments, Pedro Manuel Moreno, deputy secretary-general of UNCTAD, called services “the center of global economic transformation.” He shared striking figures — services exports have grown twice as fast as goods exports over the past decade, rising from 22 percent of world exports in 2014 to 27 percent in 2024. They also attract over half of all global foreign direct investment.

China leveraged the platform to reaffirm its commitment to opening up. In his keynote speech, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang noted that the country’s services trade scale “broke new ground in 2024, exceeding 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time.” He linked this to China’s institutional opening of its services sector, including the rollout of a nationwide negative list for cross-border services trade, expanded market access in telecoms and healthcare, facilitated services trade and visa-free policies.

Official data showed that the total value of China’s services trade climbed 8 percent year on year to 3.9 trillion yuan (about 548.82 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2025 — hitting a historic record.

China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao emphasized how the host venue, Shougang Park, blends industrial heritage with the Winter Olympics legacy to promote interaction between exhibitions, conferences, business, tourism, culture and sports.

The role of international collaboration proved a recurring topic on the opening day.

Australia is the guest country of honor at the 2025 CIFTIS. “It’s an important platform for us to build links between Australian and Chinese businesses,” said Scott Dewar, Australian ambassador to China. He highlighted the presence of 60 Australian companies at the 2025 edition of this fair — spanning sectors like education, tourism, finance, healthcare, architecture and food and beverages.

This sentiment was shared on the ground. “Australia and China have had a long collaboration in the education sector, which is a key area of the services trade,” said Christopher Hogg, global business development manager at Chisholm Institute of TAFE, a provider of vocational training and higher education in Australia.

Henning Kristoffersen, commercial counselor of the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, attending this event for a third time, pointed to concrete business opportunities. “Chinese consumers are very health-conscious. And for the products that we have in Norway, this is great,” he said, mentioning Omega-3 supplements and fish oil as examples. “Our companies have a great chance to showcase their products and meet potential Chinese partners.”

More than a diplomatic and business gathering, the fair is also a launchpad for innovation. A total of 113 companies will unveil 198 new products and achievements at the 2025 edition — spanning the fields of artificial intelligence, healthcare and smart logistics, as well as the integrated development of business, tourism, culture, sports and wellness.

Alongside the core agenda of 13 themed forums, 82 special topic forums and 81 promotional business talks — there will be over 40 supportive activities ranging from cultural performances and pop-up markets to sports events, aimed at boosting consumption and enhancing the fair experience.

“I’m encouraged by the content that we’re about to see, including innovative technology and digitalization,” said Crystal Edn, executive director of member services for the World Trade Centers Association, who is attending her first CIFTIS.

The event will run for five days until Sept. 14 — with the first three days set aside for professional visitors and the last two open to the general public.

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More than 80 countries and international organizations have brought distinctive exhibits and events; nearly 500 Fortune Global 500 companies and global industry leaders have set up offline exhibitions; over 170 forums and business matchmaking sessions are underway; and more than 190 new products and achievements are making their debut… After 13 years, CIFTIS has evolved from a simple sector-specific exhibition into a major global platform for “Global Services, Shared Prosperity.” Beijing, the capital city of China, is leveraging this momentum to raise high the banner of opening up and set a new benchmark for opening up the services sector.

The Evolution of CIFTIS: From Industry Showcase to a Global, Open Platform

Inside Shougang Park, the exhibition spaces complement the industrial aesthetic of the Big Air and steel furnaces. At Australia’s Guest of Honor pavilion, spanning over 300 square meters, a miniature model of the Sydney Opera House, lifelike representations of kangaroos and koalas—national treasures of Australia, and interactive screens create an immersive experience that draws visitors in. This year, nearly 60 Australian institutions and businesses have brought their latest achievements to Beijing.

“CIFTIS offers a platform to raise brand visibility, expand institutional cooperation, and explore new partnerships,” said Dale Pinto, Global President and Chair of CPA Australia, who is attending for the second time. “Participation has not only increased our visibility but also strengthened relationships with our Chinese partners. We look forward to deepening cooperation and offering our expertise in areas such as digitalization.”

Such feedback reflects the growth of CIFTIS and China’s steady progress in trade in services. In 2012, the total value of China’s trade in services was USD 482.9 billion; by 2024, it had surpassed the 1-trillion-dollar mark. Once reliant on conventional sectors like logistics, China’s trade in services is now shifting toward high-value-added, knowledge-intensive, and innovation-driven fields. In 2023, knowledge-intensive services already accounted for 41.4% of the total.

Over the past 13 years, as China’s trade in services continued to expand, CIFTIS has undergone its own remarkable transformation: from an initial focus on outsourcing, it has fully embraced digital and intelligent technologies while integrating green and global development into its gene. The exhibition space has expanded from 50,000 square meters at the inaugural edition to a 3-square-kilometer “city showcase” today. What began as foreign businesses bringing products into China has evolved into dynamic Chinese companies taking AI algorithms and green solutions global. Discussions have shifted from logistics and exports of cultural products to digital trade, smart healthcare, and low-carbon services… To date, over 1.1 million exhibitors and professional visitors and more than 900 overseas institutions from 198 countries and regions have become regular participants.

Adapting to the latest global economic developments and trends, this year’s CIFTIS has proactively upgraded and readied itself with cutting-edge technologies and sharp industry insights to meet a new wave of international cooperation and competition.

First, cutting-edge technologies are employed to deliver “immersive experiences” for visitors. According to Sima Hong, Vice Mayor of Beijing, this year’s CIFTIS will highlight specialized fields such as artificial intelligence, healthcare, and smart logistics—showcasing not just products, but the services behind the technology. Interactive features include a digital avatar promoting “Beijing Solutions” and a full-process demonstration of AI-enabled biopharmaceutical R&D.

Second, debuts and launches showcase the strength of “China Services.” More than 190 new products and solutions are being unveiled, including a 3D-printed polymer fatigue-resistant absorbable vascular stent and a professional-scale optical quantum computer exceeding 1,000 qubits. Demonstration cases in AI and green innovation will also be released, further enhancing the reputation of “Beijing Services” and “China Services.”

Third, idea exchanges chart a “roadmap” for global cooperation. Thirteen thematic forums and over 80 specialized sessions will address hot topics such as technological innovation, digital services, and eco-environmental protection. More than 200 ministerial-level guests and heads of international organizations will gather to discuss trends and tackle challenges. A guide on trade in services data and policies for developing countries, co-developed by China’s Ministry of Commerce and UNCTAD, will be released during the fair.

By aligning with the latest trends of digital, intelligent, and green development in trade in services, CIFTIS has achieved a historic leap over the past 13 years. With its high level of professionalism and openness, it has grown into a truly international and open platform.

Beijing’s Breakthrough: Pilot Reforms Drive Leap in Trade in Services

CIFTIS exemplifies China’s commitment to high-standard opening-up. In recent years, a series of pioneering policies have delivered tangible benefits, driving the opening-up of the services sector, improving the business environment, and turning blueprints displayed at exhibitions into market reality.

In May, inside a temperature-controlled warehouse at Beijing Tianzhu Comprehensive Bonded Zone operated by Beijing Kyuan Pharmaceutical, Co., Ltd., a batch of vosoritide—a drug used to treat a rare pediatric disease—was quickly inspected by customs officials and transported to Beijing Children’s Hospital.

These critical medicines, which had not yet received formal market approval in China, reached patients swiftly thanks to special policies under Beijing’s pilot zone for rare disease drug access. The Work Plan for Supporting Beijing in Developing the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening Up the Services Sector, approved by the State Council, supports the city in establishing this zone, using a “white list” system to help patients access urgently needed treatments. So far, more than 10 rare-disease drugs have been temporarily imported through this “express channel.”

This case reflects the potential of institutional opening-up: well-designed policy innovations can elevate the entire services sector. In recent years, Beijing has been advancing the development of the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening Up the Services Sector and the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone. Focusing on technological innovation, services opening-up, digital economy, and coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the city has built a tiered system of institutional innovations, testing new systems for the nation, pursuing regional development, and improving the business environment.

First, Beijing is exploring the path forward for the nation and sees its opening-up upgraded across fields. Beijing has introduced a number of groundbreaking policies: preferential corporate income tax for technology transfers, instant filing-and-approval for high-tech enterprise certification, the first pilot program for equity and venture capital share transfers, and pilot equity investments for financial asset investment companies… These measures act like magnets, attracting technology, capital, talent, and other innovation-enabling factors.

Second, Beijing is accumulating strength for its development and opening up more areas. As one of China’s first pilot cities to seek institutional opening-up and align with high-standard international rules, Beijing has implemented over 30 pilot measures and established a diverse opening-up structure encompassing the Pilot FTZ, comprehensive bonded zones, and key parks for opening up the services sector. Over the past five years, actual utilized foreign investment in Beijing reached USD 66.18 billion, accounting for 8.4% of the national total. More than 90% of this went into the services sector, highlighting the resilience and vitality of Beijing’s open economy.

Third, Beijing is optimizing its business environment for multinational corporations. Setting up a foreign-funded enterprise in Beijing is no longer a time-consuming process. The city was among the first to enable online processing for the opening of foreign-funded companies, reducing the incorporation timeline from two to three months to just one day. Nearly 7,900 foreign-funded companies have been set up in Beijing over the past five years, with international pharma giants like Pfizer and AstraZeneca opening their new R&D innovation centers. “Beijing offers vast growth space and strong R&D capabilities. That’s why we continue to invest in China,” said AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot, echoing the sentiment of many multinationals.

“When the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone was first established, its actual utilized foreign capital accounted for less than 10% of the city’s total. Now the figure has risen to 30%. Since 2021, the average annual growth rate of trade in services in Beijing reached 9.4%, and the scale had remained above RMB 3.6 trillion for three consecutive years by 2024,” said Vice Mayor Sima Hong.

According to Xu Chen, a research fellow at the Beijing Opening Economy Research Institute, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing’s “Two Zones” Initiative is not merely about stacking policies. Instead, it involves systematic institutional innovation that breaks bottlenecks restricting the opening up of the services sector and cross-border flow of factors, creating a replicable “Beijing Model.”

Global Services: Building a New Benchmark for Opening up in Trade in Services

At Airbus China in Shunyi, Beijing, technicians analyze airline data for health monitoring to improve flight punctuality. As one of the first foreign companies in Beijing to obtain a value-added telecommunications service license, Airbus China can now expand into Internet access, online data processing, and information services, broadening its business scope.

Airbus’s expansion reflects how Beijing’s opening-up policies attract multinational companies. Since the “Two Zones” Initiative was launched five years ago, Beijing has recorded 33,900 projects in its database, with 22,900 already implemented. With the “Two Zones” as the engine and CIFTIS as the window, Beijing is advancing opening-up at a deeper and higher level with a broader vision and more effective policies.

Since 2024, policies such as the Regulations of Beijing Municipality on Foreign Investment have been introduced, aiming to keep the city’s trade in services among the top three in China by 2030, with digital service exports accounting for 70% of the total. Beijing is also implementing high-standard international economic and trade rules on a trial basis, such as expanding cross-border use of RMB and optimizing international talent mobility, contributing “Beijing proposals” to global trade in services.

“Via the CIFTIS platform, we have expanded from Beijing to the whole country,” said Xu Shaofeng, Senior Vice President of Schneider Electric. “Supported by Beijing’s opening-up policies, we are driving growth through innovation and talent, expanding our cooperation ecosystem, and deepening the integration of services and industries.”

As a key platform for China’s high-standard opening-up, CIFTIS serves as a bridge for international display and cooperation in Beijing’s “Two Zones” development: it helps Beijing showcase the achievements of “China Services,” attract high-end international resources, and support domestic enterprises in expanding into overseas markets.

Amid a complex and changing global economy, trade in services faces challenges despite scale expansion and structural optimization. Beijing is accelerating institutional opening-up by implementing the latest version of the plan for opening up the services sector and advancing reform in key areas to empower development.

Through reform-driven endogenous growth, Beijing is promoting open development in industrial parks with tailored guidance. Beijing Daxing International Airport Economic Zone, a comprehensive bonded zone spanning Beijing and Hebei, saw its total import-export value reach RMB 9.892 billion in 2024, a fourfold year-on-year increase. “We aim to fully leverage the zone’s favorable policies to attract more businesses,” said Zhang Jizhou, deputy head of Beijing Daxing International Airport Customs.

Accelerating regional coordinated opening-up, Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei are strengthening synergy: they have harmonized 230 government service items across pilot free trade zones. They will strengthen collaboration in institutional innovation, industrial development, government services, and port cooperation, to enhance the flow of benefits generated by opening up across the region.

“Beijing will focus on building the ‘Beijing Services’ brand, promoting digital, green, and intelligent services,” said Pu Xuedong, Director of the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau. “We will consolidate our strengths in modern services, enhance the supply of high-quality services and the level of service facilitation, create international consumption scenarios, and help more high-quality ‘Beijing Services’ go global.”
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Addressing the official event that coincided with the opening of the Australia National Pavilion at CIFTIS, Chi Jiechao from the Chinese Consulate-General in Melbourne said that the economy of Australia and China are “highly complementary.”

“This event fully reflects the positive momentum of deepening cooperation between China and Australia in the field of services trade,” he said.

“It also provides a high level platform for exchanges and collaboration between businesses and institutions from both countries,” the counsellor said.

The event in Melbourne was the first CIFTIS overseas launch, with Australia holding the position of Guest Country of Honor for the first time at the conference in Beijing.

Helen Kronberger, director of International Education at the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) Melbourne Office, said that nearly 60 Australian exhibitors will be participating in CIFTIS.

“Our exhibitors symbolize a modern, world-class innovative and inclusive services sector,” Kronberger said.

“The strength of Australia’s participation this year also signals the capability and competitiveness of Australian services firms, and their ability to bring value to their Chinese partners and consumers across finance, education, health, food, consumer tourism and more.”

Wednesday’s event in Melbourne was hosted by CPA Australia, one of the world’s largest and oldest professional accounting bodies and a CIFTIS partner for the second consecutive year.

Chief Executive Officer of CPA Australia Chris Freeland said that Australia is proud to be the guest country of honor at CIFTIS and that it sends a “strong positive signal” of strengthening collaboration in trading services between the two countries.

Xie Zhibin, deputy general manager of the Bank of China Sydney Branch, echoed the sentiment, describing Australia’s status at CIFTIS as a “clear testament” to the growing relationship in services trade.

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