The 2025 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) will be held at Shougang Park from September 10 to 14, with participation intention already received from over 30 countries, regions and international organizations to set up exhibition booths or organize events. Starting from this edition, CIFTIS will establish its annual schedule and designate Shougang Park as its permanent venue, transforming the site into an industrial-style exhibition town featuring garden-like convention spaces.
Since its inception in 2012, CIFTIS has been continuously upgraded, evolving into the world’s largest comprehensive trade fair for services. As a key gateway for China’s opening-up, it has cumulatively attracted nearly 1.19 million attendees and exhibitors from 198 countries and regions, facilitating extensive trade negotiations and partnerships.
With official approval from the Ministry of Commerce, the 2025 CIFTIS will take place at Shougang Park from September 10 to 14, focusing on emerging trends in trade in services. It will feature a range of events, including the Global Trade in Services Summit, exhibitions, forums, business matchmaking sessions, achievement presentations, and supporting activities.
According to Zhao Qizhou, Director of the Beijing International Service Trade Affairs Center, beginning this year, CIFTIS will adopt a fixed schedule: opening every second Wednesday in September for a 5-day duration, with the first three days for professional visitors and the last two days open to the public. The venue will also be fixed at Shougang Park, shifting to a single-venue setup from the previous two-venue model (China National Convention Center and Shougang Park). This move will fully leverage the unique advantages of Shougang Park’s 3-square-kilometer industrial heritage landscape, optimize spatial layout, curate trade-in-services-focused activities, foster people-to-people exchanges, and create interactive experiences with the venue’s scenarios.
In line with the principle of “quality over quantity”, the 2025 CIFTIS will feature thematic exhibitions and special exhibitions. The thematic exhibitions will invite guest nations, guest provinces, international organizations and key countries to participate. Australia, as the Guest Country of Honor, will field its largest-ever trade in services delegation at CIFTIS, while Anhui Province, as the Guest Province of Honor, will highlight its latest achievements in sci-tech innovation and service industry opening up. To date, more than 30 countries, regions, and international organizations, including Norway, Japan, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), have expressed their interest in participation. Notably, Canada will debut an official government-hosted online exhibition. Chinese provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan region will continue to participate.
The special exhibitions will spotlight the converging trends in trade in services, with an optimized layout to underscore interactivity and professionalism across sectors. Nine thematic zones will be retained, covering key areas such as telecommunications, computer and information services, financial services, cultural and tourism services, and education services. Priority will be given to showcasing the applications of emerging technologies, including digital technology and AI, in the service trade sector. Additionally, initiatives will be launched to widely promote Beijing’s service products and brands. During the fair, a series of events including new product launches, authoritative releases and best service case demonstrations will be held, with plans to unveil about 200 achievements.
The 2025 CIFTIS will also host a high-profile Global Trade in Services Summit. Co-organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Ministry of Commerce and the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, the summit is scheduled to be held on the morning of September 10 at Hall 1 of Shougang Park. The forums and meetings will emphasize their authority and professionalism by releasing landmark outcomes such as service trade and development policy-data guidelines and related reports, thereby navigating industry trends. Currently, 13 thematic forums, over 100 special forums, as well as matchmaking and promotion activities have been lined up.
This year’s CIFTIS will also implement multiple measures to boost cooperation, transactions and consumption. Flexible business matchmaking zones will occupy 10-15% of the total exhibition space, creating more opportunities for connections and partnerships. Supporting events will feature interactive experiences, leveraging 14 venues in Shougang Park, including blast furnaces, cooling towers and the central lake island, to host a dynamic schedule of time-segmented activities. These include art performances, cultural-tourism bazaars, sports events, fashion weeks and cocktail receptions, all designed to integrate culture, commerce, tourism and sports. Collectively, these initiatives aim to foster a relaxed and open atmosphere for business engagement.
