Thirteen enterprises from Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province are attending the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services which opened in Beijing on Sept 2.

Since its inception in 2012, CIFTIS has grown to become the largest fair for trade in services worldwide. It is also one of China's three major trade exhibitions, the other two being the China Import and Export Fair and the China International Import Expo.

The 13 attendees from Ningbo are primarily service providers in sectors including shipping, information technology, management consultancy, culture trade, biomedical research and development, international education and cross-border e-commerce.

Among the attendees is the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, the first joint-venture university in China, which has participated in several editions of the fair.

Other participants from the city include Ningbo Ocean Shipping Co Ltd and Southeast Logistics Group, two shipping companies that have registered growth despite the gloomy international trade landscape.

A total of 18 investment deals worth $15 million are expected to be signed by Ningbo enterprises at the fair. These deals span sectors including biomedicine, information technology, construction engineering, shipping, cultural trade, industrial design, technology import and export and international education.

China's imports and exports of services totaled 2.37 trillion yuan ($365.4 billion) in the first half of the year, up 6.7 percent year-on-year, according to official data.