BEIJING, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) is turning China's market momentum into shared global opportunities, mirroring a broader trend of Chinese trade fairs becoming dynamic platforms for global innovation and open trade.

Held annually in Beijing, this year's CIFTIS concluded on Sunday with more than 1,200 outcomes achieved, facilitating resource matching, exchanges and cooperation, according to Lu Huiling, deputy head and spokesperson of the Beijing municipal commerce bureau.

"China's opening-up in the services sector provides vital certainty to global trade in services," said Yang Zhengwei, vice president of the Development Research Center of the State Council, who attended the fair.

CATALYST FOR CROSS-BORDER SYNERGY

As one of the world's largest platforms for trade in services, CIFTIS serves as a key institutional platform for China's opening-up and a crucial window for the world to see opportunities in China's increasingly open services sector.

This year's CIFTIS, its 13th edition, attracted participants from 90 countries, regions and international organizations, with more than 1,800 enterprises displaying their industry solutions.

"For Norwegian companies, the Chinese market holds many opportunities," said Henning Kristoffersen, commercial counsellor at the Norwegian Embassy in China. Norway, the guest country of honor for 2026 CIFTIS, utilized its 260-square-meter pavilion to move beyond traditional exports, exploring deep cooperation with China in emerging fields such as green maritime transition, marine nutrition and digital technologies.

Kristoffersen said the fair provides an essential platform for Norwegian firms to assess market demand, match with Chinese partners and establish long-term strategic collaborations in these specialized sectors. While Norway's land-based aquaculture, recirculating aquaculture systems and other technologies in its fisheries are attracting increasing attention from China, China's emerging technologies and services in AI and robotics are drawing in Norwegian businesses.

At the fair, Klaus Hoseth, CEO of a Norwegian aquaculture tech company, showcased a highly-automated salmon processing line. Noting that manual feeding remains labor-intensive during peak volumes, Hoseth saw a solution in China. "Chinese robotics might come in handy," he said, having visited a Beijing-based start-up specializing in both hardware and software for embodied AI robots ahead of the fair.

Beyond technology, CIFTIS is catalyzing a broader form of cross-border synergy -- one driven by China's expanding market access in telecom, allowing global network resources and AI services to better meet local enterprise demands.

As one of the first batch of Hong Kong-invested enterprises in China's pilot program for expanding the opening-up of value-added telecommunications services, Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) positioned itself as an "international connector" at the exhibition, with a focus on showcasing its AI product operations and global network resource services.

Mak Chi-fai, general manager of the China Business of the Commercial Customer Business of HKT, said the company is bringing its seasoned international telecommunications operations and AI service experience into the Chinese mainland to empower enterprises to achieve intelligent and efficient operations.

BRIDGE FOR GLOBAL INNOVATION

Beyond showcasing China's open market, CIFTIS serves as a powerful catalyst for collaborative global innovation. This role is reflected by initiatives like the China-Europe Innovation Industrial Park, launched at this year's fair to directly translate conceptual agreements into long-term cross-border projects between European and Chinese enterprises.

Huzur Devletsah, U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly's vice president and China general manager, highlighted the country's pivotal role in the company's global strategy. Leveraging China's policy incentives and research strengths, Lilly is accelerating the rollout of an integrated chain covering R&D, manufacturing and commercialization, deeply integrating into China's pharmaceutical innovation ecosystem.

"Looking ahead, Lilly will continue to use CIFTIS as a bridge to unite industry, academia, and research partners, accelerate the commercialization of cutting-edge global innovations in China, and support the Healthy China 2030 initiative," Devletsah said.

The collaborative innovation is supported by an increasingly enabling regulatory environment. Wu Xuchu, vice chairman of KPMG China, noted that institutional opening-up in areas like cross-border data flows has turned China into a vital "innovation testing ground" for global services firms.

"This provides an opportunity both for Chinese professional firms to grow alongside businesses and for global counterparts to participate in China's development," Wu said.

Reinforcing this commitment to high-standard innovation frameworks, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) served as a co-host of the Global Trade in Services Summit at the 2026 CIFTIS for the first time, addressing IP protection -- a core compliance priority for multinationals establishing local R&D centers.

Trade data tells the same story about cross-border innovation. The Ministry of Commerce said that in 2025, China's total trade in knowledge-intensive services grew by 6.6 percent. In the first seven months of 2026, knowledge-intensive services accounted for 53.5 percent of China's total services exports, up 3 percentage points compared to last year.

PLATFORM FOR SHARING CHINESE SOLUTIONS

CIFTIS also acts as a platform promoting China's global service practices, which are transferable, replicable and open to cooperation. Even after the physical exhibition halls of CIFTIS close, its global impact continues.

A dedicated exhibition area for Chinese service cases was set up for the first time at the core of the thematic exhibition, offering a window into the development of China's services.

One example is PowerChina's work on the Kananga-Kalamba Mbuji road project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the company integrated infrastructure delivery with human capital development, training nearly 700 local workers and facilitating technology transfer to foster enduring local capabilities.

Fintech cooperation is another area highlighted at CIFTIS. China's strengths in digital services are playing a key role in helping developing nations bridge the digital divide. By sharing digital capabilities and infrastructure, China is helping to make financial services more accessible and inclusive across emerging economies.

"Trade in services is increasingly becoming trade in knowledge," said Benjamin Hung, President of International at Standard Chartered. He added that China's sharing of expertise in fintech, AI, payment systems and digital platforms can significantly empower innovation across the Global South and throughout the broader global economy.

Alongside CIFTIS, other Chinese trade fairs serve as institutional mechanisms to promote trade and advance multilateralism, amid mounting global trade uncertainties.

The recently concluded China International Fair for Investment and Trade in Xiamen facilitated two-way investment. The Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou next week is poised to set new benchmarks for digital commerce, while the China International Import Expo in November, the world's first national-level import-themed expo, is expected to further turn China's vast market into a shared market for the world.

Together, these fairs form a broader network of Chinese trade expositions that bridges economies and champions open cooperation. Within this network, CIFTIS is being seen as driving proven service models into long-term cross-border collaboration, extending its impact beyond each exhibition.

"CIFTIS will increasingly move beyond being simply an exhibition and become a marketplace for ideas, technology, investment and international partnerships," said Simphiwe Madikizela, professor of economics at the University of South Africa.