The 11th CMIA, 2016 was hold on 24-25 September in Chongqing.

Theme of the Annual Meeting - Development of Trade in Services under against the Background of “Made-in-China 2025” Plan and “Internet Plus”

As global economic integration is accelerating, trade in services plays an increasingly important role in China’s national economy. Developing trade in services is an important focus in China’s efforts to expand opening-up and adjust economic structure. It is clearly pointed out in the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that “developing service trade, and promoting balanced development of foreign trade” should be regarded as one of the important tasks of developing China’s future economic and social development. In February 2015, Several Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of Trade in Services was issued, which pointed out the specific direction and paths of developing trade in services. The recent years have witnessed the annual growth rate of more than 25 percent in trade in services in Chongqing, a city which has attached high importance to developing trade in services. Obvious progress has been made in the five special areas, namely, cross-boundary e-commerce, exhibition and transcation of bonded goods, bonded trade, Internet-based cloud computation and big data, cross-boundary settlement, and facilitation of investment and funding.

In 2015, the State Council issued Made-in-China 2025 Plan and the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the “Internet Plus” Action Plan. It was proposed in these documents that efforts should be made to“expedite the coordinated development of manufacturing and service, promote the innovations in business models and types of business, and drive the shift from production-oriented manufacturing to service-oriented manufacturing”, “further integrate and develop the Internet and all economic and social fields , and make the new types of business based on the Internet become the new force of driving economic growth.” These new proposals put forward new requirements as well as new thinking and solutions for developing trade in services under the New Normal. With sound manufacturing industry and solid basis of information industry, Chongqing has the conditions of developing trade in services by integrating it with other industries. During his inspection of Chongqing in early 2016, Chinese president Xi Jinping pointed out that as the only municipality directly under the Central Government in the central and western part of China, Chongqing is an important strategic strongpoint in implementing the full-scale development program for the western regions as Chongqing has prominent regional advantages and important strategic position, and that Chongqing plays a unique and important role in the national regional development and pattern for opening-up as it is located at the intersection of the “Belt and Road Initiative” and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Based on learning and implementing the spirit of the speech delivered by Xi Jinping during his inspection of Chongqing, members of the annual meeting of the advisory body of the mayor of Chongqing discussed topics of “Made-in-China 2025” and “developing trade in services under the background of ‘Internet plus’”and obtained results from such discussion. Such results would be of immediate significance for Chongqing to speed up its efforts in upgrading industrial structure and exploring new point of economic growth, and would play a positive role of building Chongqing into an important national modern manufacturing industry base, an important domestic functional financial center, a center of making innovations in the western part of China, and an opening-up highland in the inland areas of China.