Chongqing-The 4th Fourth Western China International Fair for Investment and Trade (WCIFIT) and the 2022 CCI-ILSTC International Cooperation Forum kicked off on July 22 in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality. As an important event of the 4th WCIFIT, on the afternoon of July 22, the 2022 China Service Industry Opening and Cooperation Forum was held.

Chongqing has achieved positive results as the only comprehensive pilot city in the central and western regions to expand the service industry and stimulate new momentum for greater openness.

The digital economy promoting China's economic growth

Zhong Zeyu, Vice President and Secretary General of the China Association for Trade in Services, delivered a speech at the forum, saying that the world is ushering in the opportunity for the international division of labor and cooperation in the service industry and the opportunity of a new era of service economy centered on the digital economy. He hopes that China will seize the opportunity, and a new round of international division of labor and cooperation in the digital service industry can once again be initiated and led by the East.

Fang Aiqing, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former deputy minister of the Ministry of Commerce, delivered a keynote speech. The digital economy has become the main engine driving China's economic growth. It is necessary to promote the combination of the digital economy and the service industry, improve the ecosystem of the digital service industry, stimulate both the supply side and the demand side of the digital economy, and explore new paths for innovation and development of the service industry.

In response to promoting the coordinated development of domestic and international dual cycles through high-level openness, Han Yongwen, a special researcher of the Counsellors' Office of the State Council and vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), said in his keynote speech that in recent years, the service industry has become a key area of China's opening up to the outside world. The scale and proportion of foreign capital continued to expand. He suggested adhering to the service industry's expansion and opening and win-win development between the domestic and international markets.

The chief expert of the China Association for Trade in Services and the former vice president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade pointed out that China's foreign trade showed strong resilience in the first half of this year. “In the second half of the year, we will continue to use the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement, give full play to the comparative advantages of digital trade, innovate new business models, and create new momentum.”

Chen Lifen, a researcher at the Institute of Market Economy of the Development Research Center of the State Council, believes that the innovation and development trend of the service industry is evident, and a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is booming. She predicts that technological empowerment will open up more space for the service industry; the arrival of the leisure era will rapidly develop the leisure service industry.

The European Chongqing Center Base unveiled

The forum also held the awarding ceremony of the European Chongqing Center Base and awarded the licenses to 8 base units. The base will be based on the cooperation of trade services and industry. It will become a window for the concentration of cooperation resources between Chongqing and Europe and the development of modern service industries.

The forum also released the "Research Report on the Opening-up Path of China's Service Industry." The report believes that in recent years, China will further reduce the negative list for foreign investment access, lower the entry threshold for foreign investment in the service industry, welcome foreign companies to invest in China with an open attitude, and share the development dividends of China with the world.