(Yicai Global) Sept. 1 -- Shanghai will roll out new services and products and pen contracts for 40 key projects at the upcoming China International Fair for Trade in Services, according to a local government official.

The new offerings involve Big Data, artificial intelligence, health and epidemic prevention, business services, and cultural creativity, Zhou Lan, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, said at a press briefing today.

The United Imaging Intelligence-developed Covid-19 Intelligent Aided Analysis System, for instance, uses AI to make accurate diagnoses based on patients’ computed tomography images and cuts the CT reading time from 5 to 10 minutes to less than a minute.

The fair will be held in Beijing from Sept. 4 to 9. Shanghai will attend as its only guest city of honor. The Shanghai Trading Group for the fair consists of 346 companies, 103 of which will participate in the fair both online and offline.

Shanghai will also sign contracts for nearly 40 high-quality projects in Pudong New Area, Lingang New Area, and Hongqiao Business District during the fair, mainly in the fields of fintech, pharmaceutical research and development, cultural creativity, logistics and transport, specialized services, and e-commerce, Zhou said.

Mengxiang Group, which identifies itself as a new e-commerce infrastructure provider, will build a global internet celebrity livestreaming base at Yangshan Port, aiming to provide offshore trade, e-commerce, digital and financial services with international influence.

Shanghai is China’s major trade-in-services city. Its trade-in-services imports and exports totaled USD184.38 billion last year, about a quarter of the country’s total. Exports in specialized management and consulting services, telecoms, computer and information services, technical services and other high value-added fields accounted for more than 60 percent of the city’s total trade-in-services exports, official data shows.

The China International Fair for Trade in Services is one of China’s three trade exhibitions open to the outside world. The other two are the China Import and Export Fair, or Canton Fair, and the China International Import Expo.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Peter Thomas