China revs up services trade to woo foreign investors

BEIJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- China remains a strong magnet for multinational corporations as the country has ramped up the facilitation of its trade in services and opened its market wider to the rest of the world.

An improved business environment and strong purchasing power are among the reasons that Tecnica Group, an Italian sports equipment manufacturer, has continuously invested in China, Remigio Brunelli, managing director of Tecnica Group China, said at the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) which concluded Tuesday.

The company has inked a deal with the government of northeastern Chinese Jilin City at the fair. Soon, it is expected to provide products and services for local skiing venues and ski training schools.

Tecnica Group is among a number of foreign companies which try to tap the Chinese market through the 2021 CIFTIS as the COVID-19-battered global economy is stumbling on its path to recovery.

The fair has attracted more than 12,000 enterprises, up 52 percent from that in 2020. Representatives from 153 countries and regions signed up for the event, compared to 148 last year.

China has been the world's second-largest country in service trade for seven years. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), China's service imports and exports totaled 3.6 trillion U.S. dollars. It represents an increase of 29.7 percent over the 2011-2015 period.

With a view to opening up on a higher level, China announced a slew of new measures at the CIFTIS, pledging to implement across the country a negative list for cross-border services trade, scale-up support for the growth of the services sector in Belt and Road partner countries and share China's technological achievements with the rest of the world.

The measures came as China has consistently pushed forward the opening-up of more service fields and improved the business environment so as to attract more foreign investors.

China joined the ranks of the world's top 10 most improved economies for ease of doing business for the second year in a row thanks to robust reform agenda, the World Bank Group's Doing Business 2020 study says.

Through venture group, Qualcomm has invested in over 70 start-ups in China that are inventing 5G-related technologies and products, said Alex Rogers, president of Qualcomm Technology Licensing and Global Affairs, Qualcomm Incorporated, during a video speech at a forum of the 2021 CIFTIS.

"China recognizes the importance of a healthy IP system as evidence by its efforts in recent years," Rogers said, adding that a strong IP system is a context in which successful technological advance occurs.

China has provided vast space for the development of multinational companies by improving the business environment and promoting the facilitation of services trade, said Zhang Junkuo, deputy director with the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Zhang added that multinational corporations have also played an important role in promoting China's integration into the global economy.

With several months to go before the 2022 Winter Olympics opens, Remigio Brunelli expressed his high expectations of the event. "The growing interest of Chinese consumers in winter sports provides an opportunity for our influence in the Chinese market," he said.