Photo/VCG

Nov. 7 (NBD) -- The Ministry of Commerce of China on Tuesday issued the Report on China's Services Import (hereinafter referred to as "Report"), the first of its kind, during the ongoing China International Import Expo (CIIE) trade fair.

The Report finds that in the past five year, China's service imports contributed 25.8 percent to the growth of global service imports, and predicts that China's cumulative service imports will exceed 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars in the next five years, accounting for over 10 percent of the global service imports and contributing more than 20 percent to the growth of the world service imports.

At the conference marking the launch of the Report, Xian Guoyi, head of the Ministry of Commerce's service trade department, said when China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), the country's service imports took up a mere 2.6 percent of the global total, but in 2017, the metric increased to 9 percent. China's service imports will serve as a new impetus for global economic growth and bring "China opportunities" to the world, Xian added.

Data shows that over the past 15 years, China's services import has grown at an average annual rate of 16.6 percent, well above the world average of 8.1 percent. And, the country has risen to the top of the world in terms of contribution to the growth of global services import.

The increase in China's services import can be interpreted at both the micro and macro levels.

At the micro level, matters closely related to services import such as traveling, seeking medical treatment, and studying abroad, have become a way of life for the new generation of middle-income groups in China in recent years.

At the macro level, as Xian interpreted, it's a need in China's development to increase services import. Being the world's largest developing country, China has been undergoing an important period of transformation, upgrading and high quality development. Under the circumstances, the country has strong demands for productive services such as research & development, energy conservation and environment protection, and information technology, Xian explained.

Photo/VCG

The hot trend of China's services import is reflected not only in the figures listed in the Report, but also in the pavilions of the ongoing CIIE trade fair in Shanghai.

In the trade in services exhibition area of Hall 1, the variety and the number of service imports are dazzling, which displays huge development potential of the Chinese services import market. Boasting an exhibition area of 30,000 square meters, Hall 1 of Trade in Services welcomes more than 450 top players engaging in cultural education, creative design, logistics service, service outsourcing, tourism service and other services from 90 countries and regions.

Besides, well-known overseas exhibitors at the Expo demonstrate the capability of global supply chain services encompassing sea, land and air integrated logistics, warehousing, ports and railways and strive to create a closed ecological system for import trade logistics. 14 offshore banks, with their innovative financial solutions presented in the booths, aim to help enterprises expand globally.

Promotion of artistic festivals at the CIIE has also drawn attentions. According to a promoter of Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, one of the largest art festivals in the world, a number of purchasing delegations from Chinese local governments had come to discuss the festival, showing great interest in the idea and operation of the festival.

The promoter regarded the CIIE trade fair as a quality platform for Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale to advertise the idea of the festival and expressed the expectations to cooperate with purchasing delegations, enterprises and the cultural communities in China.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn