Although ranking seventh in the world by volume, China's service
trade still lags behind its?trade in goods, which has jumped
to third in the world.
Hu Jingyan, director of the Service Trade Department of the
Ministry of Commerce, made the observations Thursday with the
publication of a report on China's service trade development.
It says China's service trade volume totaled US$157.08 billion
with exports at US$73.91 billion. Between 1982 and 2005 exports
increased at an annual rate of 15.9 percent lifting its global
position from 28th in 1982 to eighth in 2005. Imports were up from
40th to seventh worldwide.
But Hu said in the past two decades service trade exports
accounted for less than 10 percent of the country's total exports
with the proportion only half of the world average. China also
faced a long-term deficit in service trade.
The service trade was boosted by traditional sectors like
transport and tourism while the development of high-technology and
high value-added sectors like finance, insurance, consultancy and
postal services had just got underway.
Hu said China's service trade had great potential for
development. The 11th Five-Year Plan set a target for service
trade volume of US$400 billion by 2010.
The ministry planned to boost services including development of
key sectors like cultural products, computer and information
services, transport, finance and insurance.
It would also improve policies and regulations and open a
professional website to create a better growth environment for
service trade and offer more information for domestic companies,
said Hu.
(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2006)