BEIJING: China is committed to advancing the opening-up of its service market in an orderly manner, and is willing to work with all parties to promote openness, innovation and cooperation in global trade in services, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday.
Xi made the statement in a congratulatory message sent to the 2025 China International Fair for Trade in Services, which opened in Beijing on Wednesday with the theme “Embrace Intelligent Technologies, Empower Trade in Services”. The fair runs through Sunday.
He pointed out that global development is facing both challenges and opportunities amid profound changes in the world economic landscape.
Xi reaffirmed China’s commitment to expanding high-standard opening-up, saying that the nation will actively align with international high-standard economic and trade rules and accelerate the opening of its service market in an orderly manner on platforms such as pilot free trade zones and national demonstration zones for the innovative development of trade in services, in order to promote high-quality development of service trade.
China stands ready to work with all parties to build an open world economy and continuously inject fresh impetus into building a community with a shared future for humanity, he said.
Hosted by the Ministry of Commerce and the Beijing municipal government, the CIFTIS is the world’s largest comprehensive fair for trade in services.
A total of 85 countries and international organizations, including Australia, Germany and the World Intellectual Property Organization, have set up booths at this year’s fair, according to the Beijing municipal government.
Nearly 2,000 companies, such as Walmart, AstraZeneca and KPMG, are using exhibition space during the fair. Australia is the guest country of honor, and nearly 60 Australian companies and institutions are participating in the fair.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang said that amid rising unilateralism and protectionism, China has been striving to steadily advance institutional opening-up in service trade and enhance facilitation, making new achievements in promoting high-quality development of service trade.
Such achievements not only provide strong momentum for China’s own development, but also create more space for global economic growth, he said.
Ding called for reducing barriers to service trade to foster a favorable environment for its development, and emphasized the need to strengthen international cooperation in fields such as artificial intelligence and big data.
It is important to negotiate more high-standard free trade agreements to promote common prosperity through mutually beneficial cooperation in service trade, he added.
The value of China’s trade in services reached 4.58 trillion yuan ($643 billion) in the first seven months of 2025, up 8.2 percent year-on-year, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
