Services trade empowers development of new quality productive forces

Editor's note: Dong Yun is a director at the Research Center for International Political Economics at the National Institution for Finance & Development. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), themed "Global Services, Shared Prosperity", was inaugurated in Beijing in Thursday. 

Since its inception in 2012, CIFTIS has become an epitome of China's high-level opening up, building a bridge for all participants to deepen communication and exchanges, and jointly promote opening up and development, injecting strong momentum into globalization and stable economic growth worldwide.  

Fostering new industries, models, and growth drivers, as well as developing new quality productive forces characterized by advanced technology, high efficiency and quality, are keys to achieving China's high-quality economic development. 

Against the backdrop of a technological revolution, a highlight of this year's CIFTIS is the emphasis on nurturing innovative growth drivers and propelling the integration of trade in services with advanced manufacturing, thereby empowering the development of new quality productive forces.

Exhibitions at this year's CIFTIS have highlighted new technologies, such as satellite internet, big data and computing power, and low-carbon technologies, along with their applications in trade-in services, such as dual-lens cameras used in smart maintenance equipment, BeiDou high-precision positioning, wireless communication devices, and intelligent recognition algorithms. The latest models of new energy vehicles and technological innovations from major automotive brands are also being showcased at the venue. All these reflect the enormous potential and room for trade in productive services to empower integrated development of the secondary and tertiary sectors. 

CIFTIS has presented new service models and scenarios such as digital cultural tourism, smart education, and intelligent sports. Examples include using virtual reality technology to tour the Great Wall or traverse the Beijing Central Axis, as well as AI-guided Ba Duan Jin (one of the most popular Qigong practices) and diverse robot performances. These applications demonstrate the innovation of lifestyle-related trade in services and its contribution to expanding consumer demand.

Looking ahead, China's development of new quality productive forces will entail drawing on the valuable experiences of other countries around the world while expanding international exchanges and collaboration in such fields as science and technology, economy and trade, and industry. 

Therefore, China must open its door wider to the world to leverage both domestic and international markets better to enhance quality of its economic development and contribute further to global economic growth. 

China is set to improve its systems and mechanisms for high-level opening up, innovatively upgrade trade in services, proactively align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, and promote the connection and compatibility with regulations, standards, and management in the service area. 

The Chinese government will also expand the opening of its service market in an orderly manner, enhance the functionality of open platforms for the service sector and its trade, and create a world-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and internationalized.