Beijing Fair Spurs Trade in Services

LAST year the imports and ex- ports of Chinas service industry reached US $470.58 billion， a steep rise from the US $66 billion in 2000， and its global ranking leaped from the No. 12 to No. 3. It was in this context that the China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services was launched. As international corporations flock to the Chinese market lured by its tantalizingly large demand for quality services， they cannot overlook this event， which is emerging as a part of the structure and trendsetter of Chinas service industry.

The value of a trade fair like this is measured in part by the value of deals sealed. But it is not uncommon for sums agreed to on the paper not ending up as real-term investments in full. Organizers of the Beijing Fair， then， have reasons to be proud of themselves： their followup figures show that the preliminary agreements whose value exceeded US $5 million reached at the fairs 2012 session each led to transactions and investments that not only met the initially intended amounts， but also exceeded them.

Initiated just last year， the Beijing Fair is young among international industrial exhibitions and fairs but is quickly attracting attention. The five-day first session saw the signing of 458 contracts involving US $60.11 billion.

In a follow-up survey last August the commerce authority of Beijing municipal government found that the value of contracts formally signed after the 2012 fair exceeded what was planned in the documents of intentions inked at the session by 3.1 percent， or US $1.5 billion， and all projects were progressing smoothly.

One project is Amazons relocation of its Asia-Pacific headquarters and cloudcomputing center. This investment of US $290 million will give a kick to the e-commerce sector in the Chinese capital city. Another huge deal struck at the fair was the AngoChi International Logistics and Commercial Park in Luanda， Angola. A joint venture of US $350 million between Beijing-based Hasan International and CPPPN of Angola， it will become the third Chinese-funded logistics base in Africa and is expected to bring ChinaAngola trade and economic exchanges to new height.

Last November a second survey was conducted to track the progress of projects underway and at the planning stage in the previous study. By December 31， 2012 valid feedbacks showed that the contracted worth of the 80 projects being followed up increased by US $1.9 billion， hitting US $50.4 billion and representing a 3.9 percent rise. The 24 deals made in the international service trade expanded far more than this， up 23.6 percent from the projected amount discussed at the 2012 Beijing Fair to hit US $11 billion.

The service trade remains the major focus at the event， with activities related to 36 sub-sectors of 12 service industries， ranging from culture， transport， education， research & development， sports to copyright trade， the latter of which is a new addition to the 2013 fair. Seeing the buzz and outstanding results of the first years events， domestic and international businesses showed up enmasse at the second Beijing Fair， held from May 28 to June 1， 2013， coming from a huge range of origins covering Europe， Asia and America. This years fair， with a theme of “trade in services： the new engine for value enhancement，” has had to expand exhibition space by 20 percent to accommodate all of the extra interest.