At the executive meeting of the State Council held on February 14, Guangzhou and some other cities were approved to carry out pilots of service-trade innovative development. Last year Guangzhou achieved US$29.17 billion of foreign trade in service, up 14.5% on a year-on-year basis, including US$15.64 billion of exports, up 13.3% and US$13.53 billion imports, up 16.0%. The southern China city has more than 8,000 trade-in-service enterprises and more service enterprises and formed a concentrated development structure.

 

According to Guangzhou Municipal Commission of Commerce, the trade in service innovative development pilots can enhance optimization of the foreign trade structure, foster the new momentum of economic development and promote employment and has a far-reaching significance for giving play to the role of concentration of the trade in service, expanding the size of trade in service, optimizing the structure, enhancing export capacity and fostering new competitive advantages of trade in service.

 

As a national central city, comprehensive portal city and hub of the Belt and Road Strategy, Guangzhou boasts strong industrial absorption and influence capacity. To pilot the trade in service innovative development in Guangzhou can innovate in and create experience and mode that can be promoted and replicated in the whole Pearl River Delta to drive the region to accelerate the industrial transformation and upgrade of the region while promoting realization of the liberation of trade in service between Guangdong and Hong Kong and Macao, further influencing Southeast Asia, enhancing cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road and accelerating connection with developed countries in Europe and America.

 

In the next step, Guangzhou will spare no efforts in promoting the construction of trade in service innovative development pilot. The first is to break limitations of the systems and mechanism, combine trade in service development with expansion of opening up, and make breakthroughs in the trade in service relying on the “ushering in” and “going global” and goods transaction, said a director of Guangzhou Municipal Commission of Commerce. 

 

At the same time, Guangzhou will accelerate development of the key fields of the trade in service, for example Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao cooperation, pilot of financial data service, mutual accreditation of professional services, pilot of cross-border RMB business ad inspection and test services. Efforts will be made to accelerate transform and development of the household services, TCM trade in service, traditional commercial service, convention and exhibition service, cultural and sports service, and boost advantages of the trade in service. Great efforts will be made to develop the new businesses such as intellectual property, cross-border e-commerce, offshore trade, and car parallel import service, enhance the development momentum of trade in service, grow stronger the service outsourcing, expand the service outsourcing market, and enlarge the development space of information technology, knowledge process, business process and other important fields.

 

Source: Translated from Invest Guangzhou, Feb. 17, 2016