November 9, China has published a plan to promote service trade in 2011-2015, the China Business News reported on Wednesday, citing a website statement by the National Development and Reform Commission.

The plan was jointly issued by 34 ministries and departments including the commission, the Ministry of Commerce and the Central Propaganda Department, according to the statement.

Previously, Assistant Minister of Commerce Qiu Hong said China’s service trade was expected to reach $600 billion in 2015 with an annual growth of 10%.

Compared with the prevailing trade in goods, China’s service trade only accounted for 10.9% of its total foreign trade volume in 2010, far behind the international average of 19%, the paper said. The deficit in service trade was $21.93 billion last year.

However, the fast development in service trade is remarkable, the paper said. In 2010, the total volume of China’s trade in services stood at $362.4 billion, more than double that of 5 years earlier, and China’s ranking in global services exports and imports both climbed by 1 level to fourth and third, respectively, the report said.

Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said China will accelerate the development of service trade facilitating next generation information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, new material and alternative energy.

Wei Jianguo, secretary-general of the China Center for International Economic Exchange, was cited as saying that China should stress international service outsourcing in a bid to transform the pattern of trade growth.

Source:21cbh.com