BEIJING, May 28 (Xinhua) – China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) has played an important role in boosting global services trade, with China becoming a more services-oriented economy, Ludger Schuknecht, Deputy Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) told Xinhua in an interview on Tuesday.
Ludger Schuknecht made the remarks before the opening ceremony of the Global Trade in Services Summit held during the 2019 CIFTIS on May 28, saying that "CIFTIS' contribution to this (fostering global services trade) is very important and OECD is very honored to be a supporting institution of CIFTIS."
This year, CIFTIS, holding a 150,000 square meters' exhibition and 100 forums and conferences as well as 100 business talks, is themed by "openness, innovation, intelligence and integration".
As digitalization is more and more important and digital services trade is gaining ground therefore to focus on innovation, this year's CIFTIS and its other thematic elements are timely and right for the world, noted Ludger Schuknecht.
As regards services trade running between China and OECD countries, Ludger Schuknecht held that services trade has progressed further and services trade liberalization has also made some progresses.
"But in some cases, we have also had some risks of backtracking. China here has been an exception. However, we also think that not only for China but also for other countries, it is important to move forward."
In 2018, China further trimmed its negative list for foreign investment to loosen market entrance for foreign investors. Since the beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan period during 2016-2020, China's services trade has been growing at a pace faster than the global average.
Publicized data showed that China's services trade reached 5.24 trillion yuan in 2018, up 11.5 percent year on year and ranking the second around the world. The figure represented 14.7 percent of the country's total trade last year, as compared with the 11.1 percent in 2012 when the CIFTIS, named China (Beijing) International Fair for Trade in Services at that time, was launched.
To further improve China's service trade, Ludger Schuknecht believed that policies that support open, transparent and competitive services market continues to be an important priority for China because it will help participate in global value chains and have efficient trade.
What's more, "this will benefit growth and employment and the Chinese strategies will also be supportive of high speed and high quality growth", said Ludger Schuknecht.
When talking about the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Ludger Schuknecht held that the BRI is a very important issue and initiative for connectivity and will certainly help boost the interaction between countries in services field.
Last year, China's services trade with BRI related countries and regions stood at 121.7 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 15.4 percent of the aggregate services trade of China.
Besides, "as trade restrictions are already taking a tone in terms of global economic growth and are not benefiting our economies, it is highly desirable that our governments intensify their dialogues and continue to work to solve the restrictions and we as the OECD will do our utmost to support progress", Ludger Schuknecht added. (Contributed by Duan Jing, duanjing@xinhua.org)
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