Chongqing- Rapid development for trade in services has benefited Chongqing Municipality in southwestern China from a strong emphasis on the sector, including its organized expansion of companies and districts in the policy of going out, and active participation in open exhibitions such as the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS).

The China (Beijing) International Service Trade Fair is the predecessor of the CIFTIS, and nine years have passed since the inaugural event in 2012. As the leading exhibition in the field of trade in services, it has become one of three major exhibitions in China for opening up to the outside world, together with the China Import and Export Fair and the China International Import Expo.

Industrial advantages and regional characteristics

"This year, in the Chongqing pavilion, the characteristic shape of the mountains and buildings and the silhouette of city landmarks are combined with reality and fiction," said Wen Fang, deputy director of the Service and Trade Department at the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce. "It shows the open mind of this city, raising the banner of Chongqing services to the world."

During the CIFTIS last year, the Chongqing Municipal People's Government led a delegation of 150 members from the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce, Liangjiang New Area, Jiangjin District, Yubei District, and other 21 departments, districts, counties, and enterprises to participate in the series of events, as well as holding visits to Beyondsoft, Zhongguancun Information Valley, Meituan and other companies to launch investment connection activities.

At present, open platforms in all the counties and districts of Chongqing are based on their own industrial advantages and regional characteristics. They have formed a layout for service outsourcing in line with dislocated development as they actively expand into international markets.

Liangjiang New Area and the Chongqing High-tech Industrial Development Zone have paid close attention to outsourcing aircraft, electronic equipment maintenance, inspection, and testing. Yuzhong District has undertaken international business in professional services such as finance, law, accounting, and management consulting.

The districts of Jiangbei, Changshou, and Rongchang have vigorously developed the outsourcing industry in biomedical research and development, while those of Yongchuan, Tongliang, and Bishan have stepped up exploration in the construction of an industrial Internet.

Access to international markets

“Matchmaking” through the CIFTIS platform has allowed enterprises in Chongqing to rapidly expand the circle of international friends, as new products, technologies, and services have expanded into the international market.

Service crowdsourcing platform

Zhubajie.com, established in 2006, is a unicorn company that belongs to the trade-in-services industry. Through digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data, they have accurately matched thousands of supply and demand services for more than 20 countries and regions.

The largest service crowdsourcing platform designed by Zhubajie.com in Chongqing has exceeded 28 million users. The first batch of onshore outsourcing contracts for this year amounted to US$61.27 million, serving as the biggest growth point for the sector in Chongqing.

VR industry development

According to data from the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce, Dream Technology has reached a transaction sum of 500,000 yuan (approximately 77441 U.S. dollars) thanks to the organized participation of 21 companies, including PKU Healthcare Corp., Ltd. and Chongqing Saibao Industrial Technology Research Institute, in an online pre-exhibition and remote negotiations.

Dream Technology is a high-tech enterprise in Chongqing focused on VR industry training and game development, mainly exporting their products to Thailand and the Philippines.

Last year, their VR4.0 wearable human-computer interaction system was unveiled at the CIFTIS for global merchants, which instantly grabbed the attention of many industry professionals.

Enterprises of other fields

Meanwhile, well-known companies in medical care, big data, logistics, intelligent manufacturing, engineering technology, software, and biomedicine have launched their latest products and services through the CIFTIS platform, as they access ever broader international markets.

The Chongqing delegation presented their latest products and services under the Smart City banner at the CIFTIS, boosting high-quality development in the trade-in-services industry through online and offline display recommendations on “Towards Digital Future and Service Driven Development."

Optimistic about Chongqing’s potential

Relying on the platform of the CIFTIS, Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce, along with the relevant districts, endeavor to carry out targeted projects to attract investments, which makes enterprises aware of the immense potential in service trade of Chongqing, to further increase investments in the future.

Promotion of low-carbon smart city technology

Terminus Group represents the new technology sector in the layout of Everbright Group, and it has been a unicorn in the technology realm.

Last April, Terminus Group built the Western Science and Technology Innovation Demonstration Project in the Chongqing High-tech Industrial Development Zone.

According to Tu Sunhong, Chief Operating Officer of Terminus Group, they will continue to invest in Chongqing, especially based on the AI City project in the zone.

Tu thinks that this is to boost cooperation with more open platforms and smart logistics enterprises in Chongqing and promote low-carbon smart city technology in Chongqing.

Collaboration in talent and teacher training

Furthermore, Beijing Cultural Trade Language Service Base has set up offices in 13 cities in China, including Chongqing, Guangzhou, Xi’an, etc.

Mao Juan, the responsible person of the base, praised Chongqing for its recent economic and social development achievements, which serves as one of the most pragmatic and successful provinces in the western region in implementing and promoting the Belt and Road Initiative.

Mao added that Beijing Cultural Trade Language Service Base would strengthen cooperation with Sichuan International Studies University in terms of training translation talents and teachers. They also look forward to collaboration in conference services, museum translation, film and television translation, game localization, teacher training, and translation software development.

Strategic research on trade in services

Li Jun, director of the Institute of International Trade in Services of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, noted that the regional positioning of Chongqing is crucial.

Li said," next, it is expected to play a bigger role in strategic research on trade in services, joint discussion on statistics of trade in services, and further cooperation between the Ministry of Commerce and Chongqing."

What to do next 

Taking the opportunity of the comprehensive pilot project of expanding the opening-up of the service industry, the cultivation and construction of the international consumption center city, Chongqing will fully grasp the opportunities brought by the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement), said Wen.

She thinks this is to promote the integration of the transformation and upgrading of service trade, with the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry, enhance the combination of larger and stronger service trade, and the satisfaction of the people’s high-quality life, as well as consolidate the merger of traditional service trade with emerging service trade.

Furthermore, by improving cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road in the service field, Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce will support enterprises to raise funds in domestic and foreign capital markets and drive the technology, standards, and other services of the city into the globe.

(Du Min, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)