BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Favorable policies for boosting service trade will likely be rolled out soon, the Xinhua-run Shanghai Securities News reported on Monday.
Gao Feng, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said recently that a new list of the pilot program on innovative development of service trade will be published in due time.
It is also learned that the first negative list for cross-border service trade will be published within 2020.
Xian Guoyi, director of the Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services of the Ministry of Commerce said that the trend towards service-oriented manufacturing and digital-oriented outsourcing of services are quickening the pace, and service trade is playing an increasingly important role in promoting the development of foreign trade and the economy as a whole.
-- First negative list for service trade to be published within the year
To regulate service trade in the new round of high-level opening-up, China will roll out the first negative list for cross-border service trade this year, and will firstly put it into practice in Hainan province.
The negative list for cross-border service trade deals with service trade under the three models, namely cross-border delivery, overseas consumption, and natural person movement,explained Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister of Commerce, adding that restricted areas will be included in the negative list while all areas not in the negative list will be opened.
Chen Bo, professor with Huazhong University of Science and Technology and director of the Optical Valley Institute for Free Trade, said that Hainan's negative list will become a template for service trade across China, of which healthcare will be a focus.
Hainan will further implement measures to expand the opening-up of service industries including tourism, sports, education and cultural entertainment.
It is learned that Hainan had allowed foreign cruisers to take multi-point shipping routes within the Hainan Free Trade Port.
-- New list for pilot program on innovative development of service trade to be published
On July 29, the country decided to expand the pilot program on the innovative development of trade in services to to cover parts of 21 provincial regions, in a bid to explore a path for the innovative development of service trade, and bring into play the role of service trade in stabilizing foreign trade and investment.
The State Council deliberated and adopted in principal the overall plan for deepening the new round of pilot programs, said Gao, adding that China is pressing ahead with related work in accordance with relevant procedures and will publish the list for the pilot regions recently.
The pilot programs will be designed to explore reform measures to expand opening-up areas and improve the convenience, such as developing cross-border commercial medical insurance, promoting China-foreign cooperation in running schools, expanding the qualifications of technology importers and exporters, and strengthening international cooperation in tourism and sports under regular epidemic prevention and control.
According to an official with the Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services of the MOC, the pilot regions play a crucial role in driving the development of the surrounding areas, with those regions' service trade growing faster than that across the country.
According to statistics, China has now ranked No. 2 in the world in terms of the size of service trade, with the increasing proportion of service trade in foreign trade.
China's total import and export value of service has increased from 654.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 to 785 billion U.S. dollars in 2019, with annual average growth of 4.7 percent. (Edited by Yang Yifan with Xinhua Silk Road, yangyifan@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
