China will host the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) through both online and offline channels in the next month due to the global COVID-19 pandemic situation.

An artist's rendition of the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS). (Photo courtesy of the CIFTIS news center)

During the event, overseas guests and exhibitors will mainly participate in online exhibitions, while domestic entities will take part in offline activities.

So far, 141 international organizations, embassies in China, chambers of commerce, business associations and institutions have confirmed their participation in CIFTIS. More than 2,000 domestic and foreign companies will also attend the event, during which over 100 forums and discussions will be held.

A new exhibition model has been established for offline activities, including a general exhibition, eight featured exhibitions and functional areas.

Due to epidemic control requirements, this year’s CIFTIS will have an outdoor exhibition area of about 70,000 square meters to meet the needs of countries and provinces, autonomous region and municipalities, said Sun Yao, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau.

Meanwhile, a digital platform based on advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, 5G, and virtual reality has been built for the event. The platform was launched on June 16, enabling eight basic functions including online registration, booth management, negotiation rooms, and conference management.

“While we are sparing no effort to prepare for offline activities, we have also built a digital platform for CIFTIS to provide technical support for holding an online CIFTIS Global Trade in Services Summit, as well as online services for overseas guests and exhibitors,” Sun said.

“We will provide preferential policies for exhibitors,” noted Yan Ligang, director of the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, adding that the fair will provide free online exhibition services until three months before next year’s event, free online supply-demand matching, and free reservations for cloud meetings.

This year’s CIFTIS will mainly display the latest trends, technologies, products recently developed from domestic and foreign trade in services as well as Chinese solutions, Sun said, adding that featured exhibitions have a range of themes including cultural services, financial services, winter sports, tourism services, service robots, education services, sports services and 5G communication services.

“We believe that the 2020 CIFTIS will be a successful, distinctive and high quality fair,” Sun said.

Hosting the 2020 CIFTIS sends a positive sign of China’s support for economic globalization and strengthening international economic and trade cooperation, Sun explained, saying that the event will help enterprises enhance international exchanges, secure new orders and expand into new markets, thus playing a positive role in reducing the impact of the epidemic and promoting the recovery of the service sector, service consumption and trade in services.

CIFTIS is one of the three major exhibition platforms for China’s opening-up, with the other two being the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) and the China International Import Expo (CIIE). It has successfully held six sessions, attracting 184 countries and regions, about 300 international organizations and overseas business associations and more than 10,000 companies, achieving an accumulated intended transaction amount of $529.3 billion.