The 3rd China Trade in Services Congress, sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce and organized by the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, kicked off in Beijing in the morning of June 1. Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming attended the congress and delivered a keynote speech.

Minister Chen said, in post-financial crisis, the global industrial development entered into a stage of transformation and upgrading and cross-border industry transfer bear new features, service trade has become an important driving force for a robust, balanced and sustainable growth of the global economy and also an important way for countries all around the world to comprehensively and deeply participate in economic globalization. To vigorously develop service trade is the inherent need for China to realize the scientific development and is the focus in the new stage of China’s development of the open economy. The service trade plays increasingly a positive role in promoting the long-term, steady and rapid development of China’s economy.

Minister Chen stated that the improvement of China’s comprehensive national strength and its opening-up provided a solid foundation and good conditions for the rapid development of its service trade. China has become one of the major countries in service trade. In the 12th Five-Year Plan, China’s service trade will meet the new development. China will take more active opening strategy and put service trade as a new platform to participate into the international economic cooperation. Of development direction, China will hold on the balanced and coordinated development of service trade, promote the sound interaction between goods trade and service, and the balanced development of its import and export. Of focused sectors, China will focus on fostering the emerging service trade in the sectors of information, technology, finance, environment and distribution. Of measures on development, China will improve the opening-up of the service industry, continue opening the finance and logistics industry wider to the rest of the world, steadily open the sectors of education, health care and sports, and accelerate to boost China’s service industry “going global”, and strive to achieve significant a breakthrough in the outward investment in the shipping, distribution, finance, education, culture, film & television and tourism.

Minister Chen stressed that it needs all countries reach consensus and take joint efforts to vigorously develop the service trade and promote the new growth of the world economy. All countries should maintain the free trading system, create a sound environment for the world economic development, hold on the concept of the mutual benefits and win-win outcome, strive to realize the common development, persist in the principles of coordination and cooperation, jointly push forward Doha Round Negotiations, and constantly expand the development potential of the world economy.

Guo Jinlong, Mayor of Beijing, addressed the opening ceremony. Besides, Craig Emerson, Australian Minister for Trade, Choi Joong-Kyung, Minister of Knowledge Economy of ROK, Cristino L. Panlilio, Undersecretary for Industry and Investments Group of the Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines and Director of the Board of Investments, Harsha Singh, Deputy Director-General of the WTO, Wei Jiafu, President of China Association of Trade in Services, Petko Draganov, Deputy Secretary-General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Richard Boucher, Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD, Daniel Calleja Crespo, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission, and Alan Rutherford, Chairman of the International Advertising Association attended the opening ceremony and made speeches.

Qiu Hong, Assistant Minister of Commerce of China, chaired the opening ceremony. She announced that approved by the State Council, China (Beijing) International Fair on Trade in Services (CIFTIS) will be held from May 28 to June 1 every year in China National Convention Center. As an international and comprehensive platform for service trade at a state level, the CIFTIS, with the theme of “Trade in Services: New Vision, New Opportunity and New Development”, is sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce and organized the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality.

In the opening ceremony, Minister Chen, Mayor Guo Jinlong, Minister Craig Emerson, and Minister Choi Joong-Kyung jointly launched the CIFTIS website.

More than 800 people were present at the opening ceremony, including officials from cities around China, relevant departments of the State Council and local commercial departments, experts and scholars, representatives from relevant international organizations and foreign missions in China, China service trade enterprises and industrial associations, and businessmen from enterprises of Australia, Egypt, UK, Germany, India, Japan, ROK, U.S., Hong Kong and Macao.