Foreign firm execs hail Xi's speech at global trade in services summit

Jefferson Wang, global partner of Kearney Management Consultants

President Xi Jinping's keynote speech was inspirational and clear. Kearney management consultants, a global specialized service provider with footprint in China market for more than 30 years, is confident on China's future prosperity of global trade in services.

Amid the global pandemic and uncertain geopolitical situation, China has launched such an offline flagship international fair for trade in services. This is a strong demonstration of China's commitment for further opening-up. Different from isolationistic trend of certain economies, it is critical to attract global investments through further opening-up, increasing global connectivity as well as improving business environment.

The service industry, with high-end producer services such as finance, IT and professional services in particular, is one of the most internationalized sectors in the global value chain. Extending China's trade in services is of two great significances: on the one hand, it can accelerate China's economic transformation and global connection. On the other hand, we see China's world-class advantages in specialized sectors such as digital technology and e-commerce etc.

In addition, in areas involved in the Road and Belt Initiative, China's comparative advantages have been on the rise, providing a huge potential of export of trade in services.