Joint MOFCOM-UNCTAD event at the China International Fair for Trade in Services 2025
Background
The global economy is increasingly shaped by the expanding role of services, both as a standalone sector and as essential inputs across primary industries, manufacturing, and other services. Servicification describes the growing importance of services as inputs in the production of goods, while servitization refers to firms shifting from selling products to offering integrated solutions that combine goods and services, such as smartphone manufacturers providing cloud services or carmakers bundling software with vehicles.
Recent UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) research underscores that services are critical to all economic activities, supporting diversification, productivity growth, and sustainable development. Services can contribute up to two-thirds of the value in exported manufactured goods, highlighting their centrality in global value chains. Access to services, especially knowledge-intensive services, including through imports, enhances industrial competitiveness and supports the diversification of productive activities in both developing and developed economies.
However, persistent challenges remain for unlocking the potential of services trade, including significant data gaps, evolving regulatory frameworks, and the need for policies that foster inclusive growth and bridge digital divides. Despite the rising importance of services trade, knowledge about it remains limited, with lack of data and data scattered across sources, especially in countries with reduced statistical capacity. This lack of comprehensive information is a key impediment to evidence-based policymaking.
Objective
The main objectives of the event are:
- Showcase the transformative impact of servicification and servitization on structural transformation, productivity, and global trade, with a focus on developing economies.
- Present and discuss the state of services trade data and new approaches to data collection and analysis in services trade, including the launch of the UNCTAD Primer on Data for Trade in Services. The event will focus on the implications of servicification for trade in services data.
- Foster dialogue among policymakers, industry, services trade promotion organizations, and academia on best practices and future directions for services trade, data and policy.
Participants
Participants include government officials and policymakers, representatives from international and regional organizations, and academics and experts specializing in trade, services, and economic development.
