During the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services, held in Beijing from September 9 to 13, Zhao Ping, President of the CCPIT Academy, delivered a keynote speech at the 2026 International Consumer Trends Conference and Forum on High-Quality Development of Services Consumption.

Zhao highlighted that while global trade has maintained a modest growth trajectory of around 3% in recent years, services trade has expanded at a significantly faster pace, demonstrating remarkable resilience.

Over the past decade, services trade growth has outpaced goods trade. Looking back two decades, services have consistently been the fastest-growing segment of global trade. The digital revolution has further amplified this momentum, positioning services trade as a transformative force in the global economy.

Zhao pointed out that services trade represents the new growth engine for global trade and acts as a stabilizer for both goods and services trade worldwide. The upward trajectory of services trade is expected to continue in the foreseeable future.

Alongside this growth, the share of high-value-added segments within services trade is steadily rising. Research and development, design, intellectual property, and professional business services are increasingly embedded across production and distribution chains, making knowledge-intensive services trade the cornerstone of global value chain expansion.

Among these high-value-added segments, digitally deliverable services trade has emerged as particularly significant, now serving as the primary growth engine and top priority for services trade development.