The 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) kicked off at Beijing's China National Convention Center on September 4. This event is China's first major exhibition at the national level held offline since the COVID-19 outbreak. 

China's service exports in July increased by 3.3 percent. It is the second time the exports of services from China in a month have grown since the COVID-19 outbreak. It is also the only country that has seen growth in service-related trades since March. 

The CIFTIS is ranked as one of the three major exhibition platforms for China's opening-up, along with the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) and China International Import Expo (CIIE).

The event, covering an area of about 200,000 square meters, consists of one comprehensive exhibition hall, eight thematic exhibition halls and several functional service areas.

Exhibitions would be based on eight themes featuring cultural services, financial services, winter sports, tourism services, service robots, educational services, sports services, and 5G communication services. 

A total of 148 international organizations, various embassies based in China, chambers of commerce, business associations and institutions have confirmed their participation for the event, during which four summit forums, such as 5G Communication Services Forum, as well as over 100 seminars and discussions, are set to be held.

It is said last Friday that import duty, import value-added tax and consumption tax will be exempted from exhibits that are within sales quotas during the exhibition period of the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), as per the notice released jointly by the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and State Taxation Administration.