General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed: "Steadily expand the institutional opening of rules, regulations, management, standards and so on, and further promote the high-level opening of cross-border service trade and investment". The Report on the Work of the Government proposed: "We will introduce innovative development policies for service trade and digital trade."
Service trade is an important part of international trade. How can we actively promote cross-border trade in services in accordance with international high standard economic and trade rules?
Build an open system of high standard service industry. On March 22, the Ministry of Commerce issued Special Administrative Measures for Cross border Service Trade (Negative List) (2024) and Special Administrative Measures for Cross border Service Trade in Pilot Free Trade Zones (Negative List) (2024). "The implementation of the national version and the pilot free trade zone version of the negative list of cross-border service trade marks the first time that a negative list management model has been established for cross-border service trade nationwide, forming a gradient opening system for cross-border service trade." The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce said that in the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will work with all departments and regions to effectively implement the negative list management system, We will implement opening measures in relevant fields, improve the regulatory and risk prevention and control mechanisms, constantly improve the level of governance under the conditions of opening up, and adhere to high-level opening to promote high-quality development.
Support pilot demonstration and first try. From 2016 to 2023, three rounds of innovative development pilots of service trade were carried out in 28 regions, taking the lead in exploring institutional mechanisms, policy systems and opening paths that are compatible with the development of service trade, and 157 pilot experiences and cases were promoted nationwide, leading to the high-quality development of national service trade. At the same time, since 2015, there have been 11 national comprehensive pilot demonstration cities for expanding the opening up of the service industry, basically forming an open layout covering the middle of the southeast, northwest and northwest, leading industrial development, successively promoting the opening up of key industries such as science and technology, telecommunications, culture and tourism, and finance, and cultivating a variety of new models and new formats such as digital economy and green circular economy.
Zhu Bing, Director of the Department of Foreign Investment Management of the Ministry of Commerce, said that the Ministry of Commerce would work with relevant departments to guide and support pilot demonstration provinces and cities to accurately connect with international high standard economic and trade rules, deepen the differentiated exploration of industrial innovative development and cross-border integration, strengthen the systematic integration, promotion and application of innovative achievements, and better accumulate experience for the high-level opening and high-quality development of the service industry across the country Explore the path.
Financial services are an important area of service trade. At present, China has expanded its high-level financial openness, lifted the restriction on the proportion of foreign shares in banks and insurance institutions, and significantly reduced the threshold for quantitative access to foreign capital. The heads of relevant departments and bureaus of the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration said that they would continue to attach equal importance to "bringing in" and "going out", steadily expand institutional opening, study a number of financial opening measures to expand the increment, stabilize the stock and improve the quality, and support more foreign institutions to continue to actively participate in the Chinese market, Foreign funded institutions with professional expertise are welcome to carry out all-round cooperation in different forms in China. We will support foreign financial institutions to participate deeply in the construction of Shanghai International Financial Center.
"To further promote the high-level opening of the financial industry, we should focus on institutional opening and promote the international development of China's financial market." Zeng Gang, director of the Shanghai Finance and Development Laboratory, introduced that we should attract more overseas funds into China's capital market, promote diversification of investment subjects, and enhance market vitality and resilience. Introduce international professionals and improve the professional level of financial services. Introduce more diversified financial institutions and talents, innovate financial products and services, and better meet the diversified investment and financing needs of the real economy.
