On August 27th, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the development of China's service trade and the progress of preparations for the 2025 Service Trade Fair. Vice Minister of Commerce Sheng Qiuping revealed at a press conference that the Ministry of Commerce will introduce several policy measures to expand service consumption next month, coordinate the use of fiscal and financial means, optimize and enhance service supply capacity, and stimulate new growth in service consumption. Kong Dejun, Director of the Service Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that the Ministry of Commerce and relevant departments have jointly studied and formulated the "Several Policy Measures to Promote Service Exports", and the relevant documents will be issued in the near future. In the second half of the year, China's service trade development will usher in many opportunities and favorable conditions to improve the accuracy of export credit insurance policies. ”Sheng Qiuping said that global service trade is expected to maintain growth. In the first half of the year, the import and export scale of travel services in China exceeded 1 trillion yuan, with a growth rate of 12.3%, and it is expected to maintain rapid growth throughout the year. In addition, it is expected that the growth rate of knowledge intensive service imports and exports in the second half of the year will continue to maintain the same level as the first half. Sheng Qiuping stated that the Ministry of Commerce will continue to ensure the implementation of various measures in the "Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting High quality Development of Service Trade through High level Opening up". Kong Dejun stated that the Ministry of Commerce and relevant departments have jointly studied and formulated the "Several Policy Measures to Promote Service Exports". The relevant documents will be issued in the near future, and a new batch of policy measures will be introduced from the aspects of finance and taxation, banking, regulatory facilitation, and international market development to increase efforts to promote service exports. For example, in terms of fiscal and tax policies, we will make good use of existing central and local funding channels and increase support for key areas and projects in service exports; Enhance the leverage role of the Service Trade Innovation Development Guidance Fund, and drive more social capital investment in the fields of service trade and digital trade; Optimize the zero tax rate declaration process for service exports and improve the efficiency of export tax refund declaration. In terms of financial policies, we will increase support for export credit insurance, improve the accuracy of export credit insurance policies, increase the supply of financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises, and enhance the convenience level of insurance services. Liu Xiangdong, Deputy Director of the Research and Information Department of the China International Economic Exchange Center, stated in an interview with China Securities Journal that the introduction of the "Several Policy Measures to Promote Service Exports" is of great significance. It not only fills the policy gap in the field of service trade exports, but also effectively promotes various service industries to go global and enhance the international competitiveness of China's service industry through policy support. It will also form a synergistic effect with the "Several Policy Measures to Promote Stable Growth of Foreign Trade" and complement the "Several Opinions on Encouraging Technology Exports" and other documents, promoting stable and high-quality foreign trade and structural optimization and upgrading. This policy document will have a direct impact on China's service trade exports, further unleashing the potential for knowledge intensive service exports. The "Several Policy Measures on Promoting Service Exports" supports enterprises to participate in overseas exhibitions through financial and tax policies, which helps stimulate service trade exports, expand the supply of high-quality services such as silver tourism and health consumption, improve the convenience of cross-border e-commerce service consumption, increase the proportion of knowledge intensive service exports, and promote regional service trade linkage. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, the expansion of pilot opening-up in telecommunications and other fields showed that from January to July, the retail sales of services increased by 5.2% year-on-year, and the proportion of service consumption continued to increase. The consumption pattern in our country has gradually shifted towards a stage where both commodity consumption and service consumption are equally emphasized. Since the beginning of this year, we have played a coordinating role in promoting the development of service consumption. For example, we have launched a silver hair special train around silver hair tourism, issued a series of policy documents around improving and expanding the quality of domestic services, health consumption, green consumption and other fields, and introduced a number of high-value policy measures such as service consumption and elderly care re loans, and service industry operating entity loan interest subsidies. ”Sheng Qiuping stated that the Ministry of Commerce will continue to focus on the implementation of policies and effectively transform the value of policies into actual results in expanding service consumption. Sheng Qiuping stated that the Ministry of Commerce will focus on increasing the supply of high-quality services through "opening up to the outside world and opening up to the inside world". Promote the comprehensive pilot demonstration of expanding the opening up of the service industry, expand the pilot opening up of telecommunications, healthcare, education and other fields, and include more service consumption areas in the Catalogue of Industries Encouraged for Foreign Investment. Yu Ze, a researcher at the National Development and Strategy Research Institute of Renmin University of China, said that in recent years, China's retail sales of services continued to grow faster than retail sales of goods. In 2024, the per capita service consumption expenditure of Chinese residents will account for 46.1% of the per capita consumption expenditure, with significant room for growth. The preparation work for the Service Trade Fair is basically ready. Speaking of this session of the Service Trade Fair, Sheng Qiuping introduced that currently, all the preparatory work for the Service Trade Fair is basically ready. This year, more than 70 countries and international organizations will hold exhibitions at the China International Fair for Trade in Services, with Australia serving as the guest of honor for the first time and forming the largest exhibition group since its inception. All provinces, regions, and cities participated in the exhibition and conference, with Anhui Province serving as the guest of honor. A series of characteristic exhibitions and themed activities will be held. At present, nearly 2000 companies are planning to participate in offline exhibitions, including nearly 500 Fortune 500 and international industry leaders, covering 27 of the top 30 countries and regions in service trade. Vice Mayor of Beijing, Sima Hong, introduced that the 2025 China International Fair for Trade in Services will focus on the annual theme of "Leading with Digital Intelligence, Revitalizing Trade in Services", and hold six types of activities including the Global Service Trade Summit, exhibitions, forums and conferences, negotiation and promotion, achievement release, and supporting activities. Sima Hong stated that this year's Service Trade Fair places greater emphasis on technological and intelligent applications, with a focus on showcasing new technology application scenarios, solutions, and additional services behind products. Launching vivid scenarios such as the "Beijing Solution Promotion Officer" digital human commentary and the full process demonstration of biopharmaceutical AI research and development; The guide robot will provide guidance and commentary for guests, while the coffee and ice cream robots will make delicious food on site. There will also be exciting performances of football competition robots. Over a hundred companies will launch more than 190 new products and achievements, including the world's first 3D printed polymer anti fatigue absorbable vascular stent, the world's first 8K ultra high definition second on-site distribution platform, and the first professional optical quantum computer in China to break through the kilobit scale. We will also release service demonstration cases in fields such as artificial intelligence and green innovation, and promote more commercially valuable and replicable 'Beijing Services' and' China Services'. ”Sima Hong said. (New Society)