Next big opportunities in China for MNCs

"From a longer-term perspective, we understand that for Chinese fleet owners, knowing when and how to adapt over the multidecade vessel life-spans is critical for maximizing the value and useful life of an asset," said Agnevall, adding that increasingly strict regulation means shipowners need new technologies, retrofits and upgrades throughout the lifetime of their vessels to stay compliant with the regulations while also maintaining profitability and competitiveness.

"China is by far the biggest shipbuilding country in the world and is therefore a priority market for Wartsila. The country will continue to hold the global No 1 position in shipbuilding, which has offered strong growth momentum for our marine business in China," he said.

China's trade in services maintained stable growth during the first seven months of 2023, growing more than 8 percent year-on-year to 3.67 trillion yuan ($503.61 billion) in total value, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

The country's trade in knowledge-intensive services climbed 11.7 percent year-on-year to 158.38 billion yuan during the period. The figure represents 43. 2 percent of total services trade in the January-July period, up 1.4 percentage points from a year ago.

The surge in exports of human capital-intensive services, the growing consumer demand for high-quality imported services and the increasing convergence of traditional manufacturing with the modern services sector have all created numerous opportunities. This shift in focus is accompanied by a decline in the export volumes of China's labor-intensive products, said Zhong Zeyu, vice-president of the Shanghai-based China Association of Trade in Services.

Emphasizing the potential of human capital-intensive services, Zhong said that China's future economic growth could be driven by exporting services that require high levels of expertise and skill, such as technology consulting, research and development, and engineering.

Echoing this sentiment, Mohammed Al Ajlan, chairman of the Saudi-Chinese Business Council and deputy chairman of Ajlan & Bros Holding Group, said the expansion of China's exports of knowledge-intensive services has played a role in improving the industrial structure and promoting the process of modernization around the world.

"We wish to enhance cooperation in emerging fields, such as 5G, artificial intelligence, big data, biotechnology, financial technology and automation, among others, join hands with more Chinese companies to tap into the potential of Saudi-China bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and help investors from the two countries achieve a higher level of cooperation," he said.

In a global landscape marked by declining goods demand and increasing geoeconomic fragmentation, China will underline progress in crafting national and pilot free trade zone versions of the negative list governing cross-border trade in services, amid efforts to further advance its opening-up, said Chen Chunjiang, assistant minister of commerce.

In addition to proactively aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules, the government will expedite the establishment of upgraded national demonstration zones for innovative development of trade in services, the commerce official said.