2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (hereinafter referred to as "CIFTIS") to be held in early September in Beijing is coming soon. 2020 CIFTIS News Briefing held on August 27 disclosed that, as of now, 190 forums and business talks will be held during the 2020 CIFTIS, including 4 summit forums, 134 industrial forums and business talks, 29 thematic activities of countries and regions, 18 thematic activities of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and 5 evening activities. The activities themes are closely related to the development of the times, focusing on the industrial hot topics and leading the development trend of trade in services.
According to Wu Lanlan, the executive leader responsible for day-to-day work of the Exhibition Team of Beijing Municipal Leading Group on Organization and Service Guarantee, who is a member of the Party Leadership Group and the Deputy Director of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Beijing Sub-council (CCPIT Beijing), introduced the five main characteristics of the 2020 CIFTIS as follows:
1. High level of the events’ organizers
2020 CIFTIS have widely invited international organizations, governments, domestic and foreign chambers of commerce and other institutions to join in. International organizations such as World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), World Food Program (WFP), International Banking Federation, World Trade Centers Association (WTCA), World Trade Point Federation (WTPF), and World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) will hold forums on such topics as intellectual property protection, food supply chain, financial technology, smart connection, creative economy, and prosperity recovery of world tourism. The Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Development Research Center of the State Council, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and other relevant state authorities will co-organize with the People's Government of Beijing Municipality the summit forums with the themes of "Emerging Trends in the Opening-Up and Development of Trade in Services", "Trends and Latest Developments of Digital Trade", and "Trade Facilitation in Services: Perspective of Multinationals". The Ministry of Commerce and the People's Government of Beijing Municipality will also jointly hold the China E-commerce Convention, and the CCPIT will hold professional forums on blockchain, trade in services standardization, information security and other content. In addition, more than 20 foreign embassies and chambers of commerce in China, including Finland, Uruguay, Lithuania, and Mexico will hold promotion activities; more than 10 national-level associations, such as The Publishers Association of China, Chinese Institute of Electronics, The China Association for Promoting UN Procurement (CAPUNP), China Chamber of International Commerce (CCOIC), and China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (CAEFI) will hold industry conferences and special forums.
2. Distinguished guests with outstanding influence
International distinguished guests are invited to actively participate in the fair. Up to now, 20 heads of international organizations, including Hedwige, President of the International Banking Federation, Vladimir NOROV, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Joachim von Amsberg, Vice President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, as well as 10 ministerial guests, including ministers of the Ministry of Sports of Brazil, the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Education of Finland, and the Ministry of Science and Culture of Finland, as well as the Mayor of Helsinki in Finland and the Governor of the Danish Central Bank, will participate in the fair online; 25 foreign ambassadors to China, including Australia, Colombia, Ireland and Cuba have confirmed to participate in the fair on site; more than 70 executives from 43 Fortune Global 500 enterprises and 20 multinational companies, including Ericsson, IBM, SAP, Philips, Siemens, Schneider, and Dell, have confirmed to participate in the fair; Joseph Stiglitz, Lin Yifu, Li Daokui and other well-known economists, as well as more than 10 academicians including Wu Hequan and Chai Hongfeng have confirmed to participate in the fair. Nearly 60 heads of overseas associations and institutions including the American Chamber of Commerce in China, Canada-China Business Council, the China-Britain Business Council, and the Federation of German Industries (BDI) have confirmed to participate in the fair. International organizations such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Procurement Division (UNPD) will also send representatives to attend the fair.
3. Focusing on hot topics
2020 CIFTIS will give full play to the advantages of the platform and the leading role of innovation with the theme of "Global Services, Shared Prosperity". Activities focusing on the twelve major areas of trade in services will be held, covering 20 themes such as winter sports, cultural services, financial services, 5G communication services, education services, sports services, service robots, public health and epidemic prevention, e-commerce, environmental services, technical services, construction services, transportation services, tourism and travel-related services, design services, exhibition services, intellectual property rights, and traditional Chinese medicine services. Advanced theoretical seminars will also be held, so as to build a matchmaking platform between government and enterprise, industry and university, domestic and international, and actively promote the integration and exchange of trade in services innovation theories and advanced technologies.
Focusing on global pandemic prevention and control, nearly 20 forums on public health and pandemic prevention and how e-commerce enterprises fight against the "pandemic" will be organized in the fair; focusing on the Winter Olympics, 17 forums on the technology-based Winter Olympics, ice and snow equipment industry, and Olympic city development will be organized; focusing on digital trade, more than 10 forums, including the Innovation and Development Forum on Digital Economy, and Innovation and Integration Forum on Global Procurement and Digital Trade, will be held; in addition, 7 forums on new infrastructure, including Zhongguancun Industrial Internet Industry Ecological Construction and Development Forum and 2020 International Engineering Management Forum, will be held.
4. Wide coverage of achievements
During the 2020 CIFTIS, a group of authoritative information releases will be organized. More than 30 industry development reports, indexes and list rankings, including the Action Plan on the Recovery and Revitalization of City Tourism amid COVID-19, Report on World Tourism Recovery and Development amid COVID-19, Report on China's Enterprise Globalization, 2020 Research Report on China's Ice and Snow Industry, and 2018-2019 List of Enterprises with Innovation Headquarters in Beijing.
A group of alliance platforms will be established to promote the development of the industry. More than 10 institutions will be established in the e-commerce, information, financial and other industries, including the Online Comprehensive Service Platform of Beijing Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone, the Blockchain Innovation Service Committee of the China Chamber of International Commerce, Beijing Federation of International Chamber of Commerce, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Services Platform, with a view to promoting the formation of a long-term mechanism for the development of trade in services.
A batch of new technology applications will be released. At present, more than 50 enterprises and institutions have participated in the release, including 9 Fortune Global 500 enterprises such as General Electric, GlaxoSmithKline, Canon, and Huawei; 8 multinational companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Qualcomm, Ricoh, Kompass, Japan Digital Holdings, Marriott Group, Standard & Poor's, and Mizuho Bank; 20 domestic industry-leading enterprises such as Baidu, NetEase, Youku, New Oriental, Tomorrow Advancing Life, and iFlytek; as well as 18 unicorns and innovative enterprises such as Missfresh, VIPKID, Litchi FM, and Ucommune. The release content covers the application of new technologies and services in daily life, including technology-based epidemic prevention, financial security, holographic technology, artificial intelligence, smart home, virtual reality, e-commerce poverty alleviation, distance education, and image sharing.
5. Innovated exhibition mode
The forums, conferences and activities at the 2020 CIFTIS will be held through an online and offline combined mode, including more than 30 online conferences, more than 70 "online + offline" conferences, and nearly 100 online live streaming activities. The CIFTIS Digital Platform will provide online functions such as "video conference and live video". This can allow guests who are unable to participate in offline conferences due to the pandemic to participate in online conferences, and can also expand the spread of the CIFTIS, thus breaking through the constraints of time and space, and achieving mutual benefits and resource sharing.
TheChina International Fair for Trade in Services is co-hosted by the Ministry ofCommerce of the People's Republic of China and the People's Government ofBeijing Municipality. China International Fair for Trade in Services is the world’sfirst state-level, international and comprehensive fair for trade in services,serving as an exhibition window, communication platform and cooperation bridge forthe service industry and trade in services.
