Robot exhibits steal the show. Ninety countries and 1,800 participating companies mark the 2026 edition of the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS). The event runs from September 9-13 at Shougang Park in Beijing. This year's fair aims to strengthen its role as a global platform for openness, cooperation, and innovation in services trade.
CIFTIS 2026 is built on three pillars: "expanding openness, deepening cooperation, and driving innovation." This direction reflects the ambition to position CIFTIS as more than a simple trade fair, establishing it as a platform for dialogue on major transformations affecting the services sector, organizers explained on the opening day.
Hundreds of stands fill the vast exhibition park, decorated with industrial aesthetics reflecting its past as a defunct steel complex.
Competitiveness
Forums and conferences run alongside the fair, structured around five major themes. The first covers digital and intelligent technologies, including artificial intelligence, large language models, and intelligent agents. Following are high-level services trade openness, green and sustainable development, healthcare services and cultural tourism, and the integration of services with manufacturing.
The program's scope confirms its international vocation. Nine thematic exhibitions cover telecommunications, information technology, finance, culture and tourism, health, education, sports, construction, and business services. Founded in 2012, CIFTIS was created to strengthen the international competitiveness of China's services sector and support the country's economic model transformation. Officially renamed in 2019 and abbreviated as CIFTIS from 2020, it has developed over more than a decade to become, according to organizers, the world's largest fair dedicated to services trade.
Garry Fabrice Ranaivoson