Chinese vice premier addresses Global Trade in Services Summit, meets int'l dignitaries

Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang put forward a three-point proposal on boosting the development of trade in services while giving a keynote speech at the Global Trade in Services Summit, which was held in Beijing on Wednesday.

Ding, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said that services trade, an important component of international trade, plays an increasingly significant role in promoting global economic growth and industrial upgrading.

As the current international economic and trade landscape is rapidly being reshaped, developing services trade and promoting openness and cooperation in the service sector is not only China's choice but also a global necessity, Ding said.

He then put forward the three-point proposal.

First, he called for efforts to improve the quality, efficiency, and innovation capacity of the service sector.

Second, he stressed the leading role of openness, urging efforts to enhance the liberalization and facilitation of trade in services.

Third, he emphasized the need to strengthen the sharing of digital, intelligent technologies and services, and promote the connectivity of digital infrastructure.

Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee Yin Li attended and addressed the summit.

Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Poulev, Acting Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Pedro Manuel Moreno, and World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Daren Tang addressed the summit either via video or in person.

After the summit, Ding toured the exhibition hall of the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS).

He met respectively with Poulev and Chiwenga on Wednesday afternoon.

He said during the meetings that China is willing to work with all parties to carry forward traditional friendship, strengthen strategic mutual trust, respect each other's core interests and major concerns, achieve more results in cooperation in key areas, and advance modernization through mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.

International dignitaries said that they attach great importance to developing friendly relations with China and expressed their willingness to deepen and expand practical cooperation with China across all fields to further advance bilateral relations.

Themed "Global Services, Shared Prosperity", this year's CIFTIS features a Global Trade in Services Summit, co-hosted for the first time by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Running through Sept 13, the fair has drawn participants from 90 countries, regions and international organizations, with over 1,800 companies exhibiting on-site.

Chinese vice premier addresses Global Trade in Services Summit, meets int'l dignitaries

Armed police officers and soldiers, in coordination with multiple professional rescue forces, are conducting in-depth search and rescue operations for missing people in the core disaster zone in Mingkeng Village of east China's Jiangxi Province.

At around 07:00 on Tuesday, the rescue headquarters integrated 12 professional teams, including the armed police, public security, and the fire department, to launch a search-and-rescue operation for missing persons in the hardest-hit area of the Shixia group of Mingkeng Village.

As of 18:00 on Tuesday, the mudslide that occurred in the early hours of Saturday has killed 12 people, including one newly identified missing person found in subsequent searches. At present, one person remains unaccounted for, and rescue forces are intensifying their search and rescue efforts.

Meanwhile, the Ji'an Detachment of the Jiangxi Armed Police Force deployed officers and soldiers to extend rescue efforts to surrounding disaster-affected townships.

On Tuesday morning, rescuers split into multiple teams and rushed to several villages in Zuo'an Township and Tanghu Township of Suichuan County to urgently evacuate the trapped residents.

Trapped in mountainous areas, villagers faced destroyed access roads and mountain paths that became slippery and impassable after days of heavy rainfall; most stranded residents were elderly people with limited mobility. The armed police officers and soldiers conducted door-to-door checks and carried the trapped residents on their backs, successfully evacuating all of them to safe zones.

"All village roads are completely impassable. The local residents here are all left-behind elderly people and children, and it is extremely difficult to complete the evacuation relying solely on the strength of the town government officials. This time, we are deeply indebted to the armed police officers and soldiers for their assistance in evacuating all these elderly residents," said Wang Yuli, deputy mayor of Tanghu Township in Suichuan County.

"The mountain slopes are covered in thick mud, making the ground extremely slippery. In some sections, stretchers cannot pass through at all, so rescuers have to carry the stranded people on their backs. As long as the people are safe, it is worthwhile to endure all the hardship and exhaustion," said Jiang Jiang, a soldier of the Ji'an Detachment of the Jiangxi Armed Police Force.

Rescuers intensify search efforts in mudslide-hit village in east China's Jiangxi