On November 6, the Parallel Session on China-Singapore Trade in Services Innovation of the 5th Hongqiao International Economic Forum (Hongqiao Forum) was held in Suzhou Industrial Park. Ma Jiantang, Deputy Director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and former Party Secretary of the Development Research Center of the State Council, and Zhou Hanmin, member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the China National Democratic Construction Association and Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Shanghai Committee, attended the event and delivered keynote speeches. Li Fei, Assistant Minister of Commerce, delivered a video message. Cao Lubao, member of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee, Fang Wei, Vice Governor, and Chua Teng Hoe, Consul General of Singapore in Shanghai, delivered speeches on site.

Themed “Digitalization - New Dynamics of Global Trade in Services”, the forum invited experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs to discuss the construction of the Pilot Free Trade Zone, China-Singapore digital trade cooperation, opening up of the service industry to the outside world, digital infrastructure construction, cross-border data flow, and other cutting-edge popular topics to further promote the high-quality development of trade in services.

The photo shows that Li Fei, Assistant Minister of Commerce, delivered a video message

In a video message, Li Fei congratulated the China-Singapore Trade in Services Forum on behalf of the Ministry of Commerce. He noted that over the past decade, China had made significant achievements in the development of trade in services and digital trade. Singapore is China’s third-largest trade in services partner and the largest trade in services partner along the “Belt and Road”. China will give full play to bilateral FTAs, service trade cooperation mechanisms, and other channels and rely on the Suzhou Industrial Park and other governmental cooperation projects between China and Singapore to continue to promote the complementary and win-win cooperation of China-Singapore trade in services.

The photo shows that Chua Teng Hoe, Consul General of Singapore in Shanghai, delivered a speech

In his speech, Chua Teng Hoe said that the Suzhou Industrial Park was the first intergovernmental project between Singapore and China and had yielded remarkable achievements. With a vibrant economy and immense potential for the development of the service sector, Singapore will continue to deepen cooperation with Suzhou in all areas, seize opportunities for the development of trade in services, and strive to develop innovative and exemplary cooperation in areas such as the digital economy, biomedicine, and the green economy.

The photo shows that Fang Wei, member of the Party Group and Vice Governor of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, delivered a speech

In his speech, Fang Wei said that in recent years, Jiangsu has been pushing forward the expansion and opening up of its service industry, focusing on promoting the high-quality development of service trade, with the scale of service trade import and export ranking among the top in China. Jiangsu is one of the provinces with the closest economic and trade cooperation with Singapore, and Suzhou is the main city of open economy in Jiangsu and the major area of China-Singapore cooperation. We hope that Suzhou will give full play to its pilot and leading role, actively build a hub for the development of digital trade, and explore new experiences and models for the innovative development of trade in services in the province and the country.

The photo shows that Cao Lubao, member of the Standing Committee of

the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of

the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee, delivered a speech

Cao Lubao said that Suzhou would continue to create new advantages in the open economy, better serve the overall diplomatic situation of the country, uphold China-Singapore cooperation as a long-term strategy for the development of the city, focus on strengthening the main role of enterprises in China-Singapore cooperation, strive to focus on services and trade and other key areas to deepen cooperation, while taking the initiative to align with international high-standard economic and trade rules, and continuously improve the level of investment and trade liberalization and facilitation to help domestic and foreign enterprises share development opportunities.

The photo shows that Ma Jiantang, Deputy Director of

the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, delivered a speech

Ma Jiantang pointed out that opening up to the outside world is the basic state policy and distinctive mark of contemporary China, and that it is necessary to adhere to the concepts of emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, and social consensus of expanding openness and pursuing secure openness, and create a large ecology of all-round support to promote the construction of high-level openness; further expand market access, align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, so that the level of openness gradually reaches the high level of the world; play the role of passive progress and motivation of opening up to the outside world, serve the “great projects of the country”, expand internal and external development space for the comprehensive construction of a strong socialist modern country, and maintain and extend the strategic opportunity period.

The photo shows that Zhou Hanmin, member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the China National Democratic Construction Association and Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Shanghai Committee, delivered a speech

Zhou Hanmin pointed out that trade in services continues to rise as a share of world trade and is increasingly becoming a major driving force of global economic growth. China attaches great importance to trade in services, taking the opening up of the service sector and its development as an essential way to integrate into economic globalization and participate in international cooperation. The development of trade in services should take the domestic market as a driver to continuously provide new opportunities for the world, take institutional opening as a focus to promote deeper integration of trade in services into the world economy, and take the “community of shared future for humankind” as a concept to jointly cultivate new momentum for the development of global trade in services.

At the forum, many China-Singapore cooperation, municipal integration, and industrial innovation cluster construction projects were signed. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology released research results on cross-border data flow based on the exploration and practice of Suzhou Industrial Park. The head of the China Division of the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore shared insights on “Singapore’s Digital Economy Development Framework”, and representatives of relevant enterprises engaged in dialogue and exchange on developing trade in services.