Gov't to widen market access, push opening-up of service trade

Visitors watch how a rehabilitative robot works at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, Sept 5, 2020. (Photo by Zhang Wei/China Daily)

China will further lower market access for its services trade industry and accelerate the opening-up process of sectors including healthcare, culture, education and telecommunication, said a senior official on Saturday.

Wang Bingnan, vice-minister of commerce, said during the Forum on New Trend of Trade in Services for Open Development under the ongoing China International Fair for Trade in Services held in Beijing, that China will promote the construction of service trade pilot zones, as well as the exploration of the system to open up and improve the service trade sector.

The CIFTIS, which marks the country's first major international trade event held offline since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, lasts from Sept 4 to 9.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that during the past 15 years, the average annual growth rate of China's service trade export reached 9 percent, which was 2.9 percentage points higher than the global level. During the same period, China had imported a total of $4.5 trillion worth of services, contributing 12.9 percent to the growth of global service trade import.

In the next 15 years, China will import over $10 trillion worth of services, said the ministry.

Wang said that in the future, China will prioritize the business environment in the service trade sector, launch more measures to boost the opening-up of the sector, accelerate the construction of hubs in digital service, culture, and traditional Chinese medicine, and promote the reform of streamlining administration and delegating power, improving regulation and upgrading services in the sector.

Meanwhile, the country will expand the multilateral cooperation in the service trade sector, and jointly discuss the rules in the sector with other countries, to create a fairer environment, he added.