Digital technologies boost global trade in services

AI-powered digital humans, surgical robots, humanoid robots, VR driving and virtual dressing rooms. These were among the dazzling displays of digital technologies at a recent major services trade fair in Beijing.

The 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services, which closed on Monday, attracted over 450 Fortune 500 enterprises and companies taking the lead in their respective industries, as well as 85 countries and international organizations.

"With the continuous innovation and application of digital technologies such as AI, cloud computing and big data, the digital economy is becoming a key driver of global economic and social development," said Zhang Feng, Party chief of the Council of the Chinese Institute of Electronics, at a forum at the fair.

Experts at the fair also believed that digital technologies are profoundly impacting global service trade by reducing transaction costs and improving efficiency, which is becoming a driver of economic globalization.

"Digital platforms are emerging at a breathtaking speed," said Andreas Keibel, head of the German-Chinese Association for the Promotion of Culture and Technology Exchange, in a video speech at a sub-event of the fair.

"Activating the Digital Engine, Expanding New Space for Digital Trade," the theme of the sub-event, is undoubtedly a core topic that is now omnipresent, Keibel said.

Li Wei, the China region head of the German-Chinese Association for the Promotion of Culture and Technology Exchange, said the deep integration of digital technologies with modern logistics and international trade has opened up a broad space for Sino-German cooperation in digital trade.

Riding the wave of digitalization, China, the world's largest auto market and key to German carmakers, is becoming a major source of innovation and transformation for the automobile industry, Li said.

Li believed that in the future, China and Germany should also strengthen cooperation in digital infrastructure construction and explore new paths of digital intelligent transformation.

In recent years, China has attached great importance to the development and cooperation in digital trade by promoting the construction of digital trade demonstration zones and fostering new forms and modes of digital trade.

China's imports and exports of services grew 14 percent year on year to 3.6 trillion yuan (US$508 billion) in the first half of 2024, official data showed.

Digitalization will make cooperation in global trade in services more open and inclusive, and help countries, especially those developing countries and small and medium-sized enterprises, better integrate into the global value chain, said Wang Qiang, a public affairs manager with Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall Group.

Eyeing China's huge market and burgeoning digital economy, global companies used the fair to explore business opportunities in the world's second-largest economy.

German medical technology company Siemens Healthineers was a newcomer to the event and has brought some of the world's leading medical products to the trade fair.

The trade fair served as an important window for global medical innovation and technology exchange, providing vast opportunities to explore partnerships, said Lena Wang, vice president of Siemens Healthineers China.

With China's booming digital economy and growing demand for digital healthcare, more patients are benefiting from digital technology-enabled intelligent healthcare, said Wang of Siemens Healthineers China.