President Xi Jinping addresses the (CIFTIS) via video

President Xi Jinping addresses the Global Trade in Services Summit of the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) via video in Beijing.

President Xi Jinping addresses the Global Trade in Services Summit of the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) via video in Beijing, on Sept. 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

President Xi Jinping pointed out that currently, the century long changes are accelerating and the world economy lacks momentum for recovery. Service trade is an important component of international trade, and the service industry is an important field of international economic and trade cooperation. Global service trade and cooperation in the service industry are deepening, and the process of digitization, intelligence, and greening is accelerating. New technologies, formats, and models are emerging one after another, injecting strong impetus into promoting economic globalization, restoring global economic vitality, and enhancing the resilience of global economic development.

President Xi Jinping addresses the Global Trade in Services Summit of the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) via video in Beijing, on Sept. 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

President Xi Jinping stressed that this year marks the 45th anniversary of China's reform and opening up. China will continue to promote high-level opening up, comprehensively promote Chinese path to modernization with high-quality development, and provide new opportunities for countries to open up and cooperate. China is willing to work with all countries to promote inclusive development through service openness, promote linkage and integration through service cooperation, cultivate development momentum through service innovation, create a better future through service sharing, and work together to push the world economy onto a sustained recovery track.

We will create a more open and inclusive development environment. Expand the global network of high standard free trade zones, actively carry out negotiations on negative lists of service trade and investment, expand the opening up of service fields such as telecommunications, tourism, law, and vocational exams to the outside world, expand the opening up of comprehensive demonstration zones in the national service industry, as well as conditional free trade pilot zones and free trade ports, and take the lead in connecting with international high standard economic and trade rules. Relax market access for the service industry, orderly promote the process of opening up cross-border service trade, improve the standardization level of service trade, and steadily expand institutional openness.

We will tighten the mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation bond. We will strengthen the docking of development strategies and cooperation initiatives with other countries, deepen cooperation with countries along the "the Belt and Road" in trade in services and digital trade, facilitate cross-border flow of various resource factors, and foster more growth points for economic cooperation.

We will strengthen the development path driven by innovation. Accelerate the cultivation of new driving forces for the digitization of service trade, promote the pilot reform of the data infrastructure system, and promote the innovative development of digital trade reform. Build a national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market and support the service industry to play a greater role in green development. Promote the integration and development of service trade with modern service industry, high-end manufacturing industry, and modern agriculture, and unleash more innovative vitality.

We will share the achievements of Chinese path to modernization. Efforts will be made to expand domestic demand, accelerate the construction of a strong domestic market, actively expand imports of high-quality services, encourage the expansion of exports of knowledge intensive services, provide new development momentum for the world with the opportunity of China's large market, provide more and better Chinese services to the world with high-quality development, and enhance the sense of gain for people around the world.

President Xi Jinping finally emphasized that when the world economy is open, it thrives, while when closed, it declines. Let us jointly uphold the hard-earned free trade and multilateral trading system, share the historical opportunities of global service trade development, and work together to create a better and more prosperous future for the world.

The 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services will be held in Beijing from September 2nd to 6th, with the theme of "Openness leads development, cooperation, and win-win future".