2023 "Service Trade Fair": Conformity Assessment — Enhancing the Resilience and Stability of the Global Industrial Chain

　　The 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services was held in Beijing from September 2 to 6, with the theme "Opening Leads Development, Cooperation Creates a Win-Win Future." The China International Fair for Trade in Services (referred to as "CIFTIS") is a national-level, international comprehensive service trade exhibition approved by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. The Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China (referred to as "CNCA") and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (referred to as "CCPIT") have successfully co-hosted two sessions of the "Conformity Assessment Service Trade Facilitation Forum" at CIFTIS, gaining widespread attention from domestic and international industries and society.

　　2023 "CIFTIS" Conformity Assessment Service Trade Facilitation Forum

　　On September 6, CNCA and CCPIT jointly held the "Conformity Assessment Service Trade Facilitation Forum" during CIFTIS. The theme of this forum was "Conformity Assessment: Enhancing the Resilience and Stability of the Global Industrial Chain."

　　The forum invited high-level representatives including government department heads, experts and scholars, international organization leaders, heads of counterpart business associations, leaders of multinational inspection, testing and certification groups, and well-known domestic and foreign enterprise leaders to deeply exchange and discuss how to build a more efficient quality and safety trust transmission mechanism through high-quality development of conformity assessment, improve the inspection, testing and certification system covering the entire industrial chain, and promote the security, smoothness, and optimization of the global industrial chain. The forum organized three roundtable discussions around the topics "Conformity Assessment Collaborating with High-Quality Development of Advanced Manufacturing," "Conformity Assessment and Management Innovation," and "Conformity Assessment Supporting Coordinated Development of Regional Foreign Trade." It also released achievements such as the "China Quality Certification International Cooperation Report," "Excellent Cases of Small and Beautiful Mutual Recognition in Quality Certification Cooperation," and the Chinese version of the International Organization for Standardization's "Conformity Assessment Transmitting Supply Chain Trust."

　　Promote inclusive development through service openness, promote interconnected integration through service cooperation, cultivate development momentum through service innovation, and create a better future through service sharing.

　　On the morning of September 2, President Xi Jinping delivered a video speech at the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services Global Service Trade Summit in Beijing.

　　Xi Jinping pointed out that currently, the century-old changes are accelerating, and the world economy lacks sufficient momentum for recovery. Service trade is an important part of international trade, and the service industry is a key area of international economic and trade cooperation. Global service trade and service industry cooperation are developing deeply, with digitalization, intelligence, and greening processes accelerating continuously. New technologies, new business formats, and new models are emerging one after another, injecting strong momentum into promoting economic globalization, restoring global economic vitality, and enhancing the resilience of world economic development.

　　Xi Jinping emphasized that this year marks the 45th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up. China will continue to promote high-level opening-up, comprehensively advance Chinese-style modernization through high-quality development, and provide new opportunities for open cooperation with all countries. China is willing to work with all countries and parties to promote inclusive development through service openness, promote interconnected integration through service cooperation, cultivate development momentum through service innovation, and create a better future through service sharing, jointly pushing the world economy onto a path of sustained recovery.

　　We will create a more open and inclusive development environment. We will expand a global network of high-standard free trade zones, actively conduct negotiations on negative lists for service trade and investment, expand opening-up in service sectors such as telecommunications, tourism, legal services, and professional examinations, and take the lead in aligning with international high-standard economic and trade rules in national comprehensive demonstration zones for expanding service industry opening-up as well as in qualified free trade pilot zones and free trade ports. We will relax market access for the service industry, orderly advance the opening-up process of cross-border service trade, improve the standardization level of service trade, and steadily expand institutional opening-up.

　　We will strengthen mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation ties. We will enhance alignment with development strategies and cooperation initiatives of various countries, deepen cooperation in service trade and digital trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, facilitate the cross-border flow of various resources and factors, and cultivate more economic cooperation growth points.

　　We will reinforce innovation-driven development paths. We will accelerate the cultivation of new digital momentum in service trade, promote pilot reforms of data infrastructure systems, and foster innovative development in digital trade reform. We will build a national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market and support the service industry in playing a greater role in green development. We will promote the integration of service trade with modern service industries, high-end manufacturing, and modern agriculture to unleash more innovation vitality.

　　We will share the achievements of Chinese-style modernization. We will focus on expanding domestic demand, accelerate the construction of a strong domestic market, proactively expand high-quality service imports, encourage the expansion of knowledge-intensive service exports, provide new development momentum to the world through the opportunities of China's large market, offer more and better Chinese services globally through high-quality development, and enhance the sense of gain among people worldwide.

　　Xi Jinping finally emphasized that the world economy thrives with openness and declines with closure. Let us jointly safeguard the hard-won free trade and multilateral trading system, share the historic opportunities of global service trade development, and work together to create a better and more prosperous future for the world.