On the 2^nd of September 2021, China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) with the theme of “Towards Digital Future and Service Driven Development” at this year, was opened at the location of China National Convention Center (CNCC). President Xi Jinping delivered a virtual speech at CIFTIS Global Trade in Services Summit, declaring China’s determination to deepen reform, expand openness and seek collaborative development with the rest of the world. It was said that China will insist in peace, development, cooperation and win-win with other countries, to tackle the trade and investment challenges the world confronted nowadays, to promote a better future.

CIFTIS is hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of China and Beijing Municipal People’s Government with the support of international organizations. It has become a high-profile, high-quality global comprehensive exhibition platform in the field of service trade since 2012.

City Development Law Firm, as a specialized law firm long committed to provide expertise in urban and rural development field, has been actively expanding its international services in the past decades. In its professional cross-border legal services, City Development Law Firm has received unanimous recognition from the industry and clients. It is for this reason, the firm has also been invited to CIFTIS this year. On the 4^th of September, Mr. Zhu Shuying, chairman of Jianwei Research Center, and Mr. Chen Jun, director of the International Practice Department of the firm, were invited to participate in the fourth Belt and Road Cooperation Forum（” Forum”）.

There are three highlights of our participation in this year’s CIFTIS:

1. Appointed as Vice Chair (Company) of the Expert Committee

City Development Law Firm has been invited by Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice to participate in the exhibition. Among which, the firm has been appointed as Vice Chair of the Expert Committee of the China Association for Trade in Services (“Expert Committee”) with Mr. Zhu as Vice Chairman. This is an encouragement as well as the honor for the firm.

The Expert Committee was established in 2011 to provide consulting service for Governments and Private Sectors in their decision-making process. It is a high-level think tank that focuses on challenges of international service trade and the service trade in China.

Being appointed as the Vice chair (Company) of the Expert Committee, we will provide our expertise for the service trade enterprises, safeguard the development of service trade.

2. Innovative legal service from City Development Law Firm

Legal service is not only an important part of service trade, but also the safeguard for the development of international service trade in general.

As a specialized law firm exercising our expertise in urban and rural development field, City Development Law Firm has been steering through the strategy of “specializing, branding, and scaling” for the past decades. The participation of CIFTIS is a significant step for us to embrace the international trade service. Apart from deepening our engagement with construction, real estate, natural resources and infrastructure industries, our firm bring together multilingual professionals with international backgrounds to provide domestic and foreign companies with international construction project, international trade, and international investment services. At the same time, we have set our strategy on the broader domestic and cross-border EPC market, committed to provide risk prevention and dispute solution services throughout the overall construction process, from the preparation of bidding to the inspection of the project.

3. Promote Belt and Road Initiative with the new publications on international construction projects

As an important event of CIFTIS, the Forum organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) on the 4^th of September attracted widespread attention. It focused on the theme of ” Digitalization and Intelligentization are Driving the Development of Trade in Services”, involved government leaders, including the heads of international organizations, regional organizations, bilateral organizations, etc. Feng Yaoxiang, Minister of Trade and Investment Promotion Department of CCPIT presided over the meeting, and Zhang Shenfeng (Vice President of CCPIT) and Zhu Guangyao (second-level inspector of the Department of Service and Trade of the Ministry of Commerce), to deliver speeches on their insights of industrial development.

During the forum, two professional books, The Legal System and Risk Prevention of Construction and Investment Projects in Belt and Road Initiative, as well as Compliance and Risk Control Best Practice of International Construction project in Belt and Road Initiative, produced by City Development Law Firm, were mentioned and strongly recommended by the Forum experts. The “Belt and Road” series were made with the purpose to improve the construction management capacity of Chinese construction companies. We believe these books will serve as tool-kits and provide the handy legal knowledge for Chinese companies. The Belt and Road Initiative has engaged tremendous construction projects with big monetory investments where professional lawyers can play a role in helping enterprises to identify risks and prevent dispute.

As a top construction & infrastructure filed law firm, we will endeavor to conduct constructive studies on best legal practices, and safeguard Chinese companies in their involvement with Belt and Road Initiative.