City achievements on show at Beijing fair

The only Guest of Honor city at the China International Fair for Trade in Services 2020, Shanghai's exhibition area will show the city's achievements in innovation and development of trade in services over the past 30 years.

The fair will be held from September 4 to 9 in Beijing, during which the Shanghai trade delegation will participate both online and offline. 

A Shanghai Theme Day event will be held in on September 5, when nearly 40 projects will be signed to be launched in three key areas — the Pudong New Area, Lingang Special Area and Hongqiao Business District, according to the city's Commission of Commerce.

The projects are mainly involved in fields such as financial technology, pharmaceutical research and development, the cultural and creative sector, logistics and transportation, professional services and e-commerce.

For instance, the Bank of Communications Financial Technology Co, with a registered capital of 600 million yuan, will be settled in the Lingang new area, aiming to improve the quality and structure of financial services by means of financial technology, and to strengthen frontier research and application as well as promote the export business of financial technology services.

Meanwhile, the Idol Group, a new e-commerce infrastructure provider, will establish a global hub for the live streaming industry in Yangshan Port, aiming to develop businesses in offshore trade, e-commerce, digital and financial services.

In the context of the severe and complex global economic and trade situation and the spread of COVID-19, this fair will be China's first major international economic and trade activity to be held offline.

A total of 346 enterprises were registered in the Shanghai trade group, and 103 enterprises will participate in the fair both online and offline, the commission said. They will focus on key areas such as health and epidemic prevention, commercial services, and cultural and creative industry, launching a batch of new products and services with strong competitive advantages.

Zhou Lan, deputy director of the commerce commission, said the city’s exhibition area will focus on the theme of "outstanding services, linking the world" to showcase the innovative development achievements of Shanghai's trade in services over the past 30 years.

It will cover trade in producer services represented by technical services, financial services and transportation services, as well as trade in lifestyle services centered on cultural services, overseas consumption and Chinese medicine services, Zhou said.

The city's exhibition area will have a huge city silhouette as its backdrop, using advanced technologies such as 5G and cloud computing to set up a high-tech venue. 

At present, the city's online three-dimension exhibition hall has been brought online on the official website, where viewers can see the full picture of Shanghai’s guest of honor exhibition hall.

The pandemic not only led to challenges to the development of trade in services, but also brought new opportunities to accelerate the development of digitalization in the city, Zhou noted.

In the first half of 2020, Shanghai's exports of services totaled US$30.3 billion, representing a positive year-on-year growth.

In 2019, the city's import and export volume of trade in services added up to US$184.38 billion, accounting for about a quarter of the overall service trade volume in China, ranking first in the country. 

Since the 13th five-year plan, Shanghai's service exports have grown by an average of 4.5 percent a year. Among them, high value-added areas such as professional management and consulting services, telecommunications, computer and information services, and technical services have gradually become the main drivers, accounting for more than 60 percent of the city's total exports in services.

Zhou said that Shanghai, selected as the pilot area for the country's third round of innovative development of trade in services, will give full play to the role of service trade in stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment, more effectively promote the economic transformation and upgrading as well as high-quality development of the city.