China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) 2025: Opening ceremony and Summit Forum

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour to address the Summit Forum of the China International Fair for Trade in Services, CIFTIS.

Over the years, CIFTIS has become a leading global platform for advancing openness, innovation, and cooperation in the services economy.

It reflects China’s strong commitment to strengthening international trade in services and fostering new drivers of global growth.

UNCTAD is proud to be an official supporter of this Forum. Our collaboration with CIFTIS spans more than a decade, and continues to deepen.

Today, services are at the centre of global economic transformation. They are not just a supporting sector — they are core to value creation.

The numbers speak for themselves:

• Services account for about two thirds of global GDP.
• Services exports have grown twice as fast as goods exports over the past decade, raising their share of world exports from 22% in 2014 to 27% in 2024.
• In 2024, services attract over half of all global foreign direct investment.
• And they employ 55% of the world’s workforce, with women making up almost half of this sector.

These numbers underline a simple fact: services are not only the backbone of modern economies. They are key drivers of inclusivity and resilience.

Services are undergoing a profound structural change. Digitalization is dramatically expanding the tradability of services, with ICT, finance, and business services among the fastest-growing categories. This is reshaping opportunities across the globe, as well as the policies required to harness them.

But the distribution of benefits remains uneven.

Many developing economies remain concentrated in traditional services such as transport and travel, while advanced economies — and increasingly parts of Asia — are building competitive advantages in digitally delivered and knowledge-intensive services.

Unlocking this potential requires deliberate policy choices.

Countries need integrated strategies that combine trade and industrial policies with investments in skills, infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks. Above all, they need to ensure universal, affordable access to quality services — from finance to broadband.

Sound policymaking also depends on reliable data.

Yet significant gaps persist. Not more than 15 developing economies regularly report trade in services data by bilateral trading partner. Without such data, it is difficult to design effective policies or measure progress.

This is why, with China’s support, UNCTAD has developed a Primer on Data for Trade in Services and Development Policies. It is designed to help policymakers strengthen their statistical capacity and make more informed decisions. We will launch this Primer on Friday at a joint UNCTAD–MOFCOM event.

Looking ahead, we will continue to work closely with China to advance the global agenda on services trade and sustainable development. Our upcoming ministerial conference, UNCTAD 16, in Geneva this October, will also feature a dedicated forum on trade in services where we aim to continue pushing this agenda forward.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Services are driving the new economy. They connect countries, power innovation, bridge capacity gaps and shape opportunities for people everywhere. Our task is to ensure that this transformation also drives inclusivity, sustainability, and shared prosperity to all.

Thank you.