Guangdong to Take Lead in Opening Service Trade

Guangdong Province in south China will move faster to open the service trade in a bid to gain experience for China's foreseeable entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Zhao Yufang, deputy head of the provincial department of foreign trade and economic cooperation, said that a joint conference, which is a trans-departmental mechanism, and related working groups have been set up to study affairs concerning the opening of the service trade and investment promotion in the sector.

"We used to be very prudent about overseas investment in the service trade, but now we need to move faster toward the opening of the sector," Zhao said in an interview with Xinhua Friday.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation who is here attending the ongoing 89th China Export Commodities Fair, said Guangdong's efforts will help advance the reform and opening-up of the service trade in other areas of the country and turn a new page in China's efforts to attract overseas investment into the service trade.

The opening of the service trade in Guangdong, commonly known as an "experimental field" for China's reform and open-up, will be carried out in a step-by-step manner, Zhao said.

According to Zhao, overseas investors will soon be allowed to operate jointly-financed or solely invested travel agencies, cinemas, railway and air transport businesses.

In the meantime, the experiment of allowing overseas investment in intermediate businesses ranging from accounting offices, evaluation organizations, supervisory companies, to legal consulting firms will be further expanded to make way for a full opening-up of these businesses.

Guangdong also plans to expand the business scope of investment companies financed by multinationals and make active preparations for qualified overseas-financed ventures to go public on the country's B-share market, where foreign currency-denominated shares are traded.

Zhong Jianhui, a foreign trade specialist based in Guangdong, explained that Guangdong has always played the role of pioneer in China's reform and open-up drive.

"The rapid expansion of the market economy and the increasingly improved environment have endowed the province with conditions for further opening-up," said Zhong.

Guangdong is placed high up in the country in terms of economic strength and the degree of opening to the outside world. It chalked up 950 billion yuan (about 114.5 billion U.S. dollars) in gross domestic product (GDP) last year, accounting for about one tenth of the national total. Its exports amounted to 92 billion U. S. dollars last year, nearly 40 percent of China's total.

With the approval of relevant state departments, Guangdong Province has, over the past few years, okayed the establishment of a number of Sino-foreign invested or cooperative businesses involving commerce, tourism and foreign trade. These experimental businesses have reportedly been doing well.

Currently, representatives of some multinationals including discount store giant Wal-Mart are negotiating with local officials in Guangdong on details regarding increasing investment and entering the service trade.

Foreign trade specialist Zhong Jianhui said overseas investors have long paid great attention to the opening-up of the service trade.

"The service trade, instead of the manufacturing industry, will be the focus for the next round of competition among overseas investors in China," said Zhong.

China has vigorously encouraged overseas investors to enter its manufacturing and agricultural sectors, but not the service trade, since the country introduced the reform and open-up policy in 1978.

As China quickened the step to joining the WTO in the past few years, a small number of cities including Guangzhou and Shanghai have been selected to be pioneers and a group of Sino-overseas jointly-invested or cooperative businesses have been approved in the fields of finance and insurance in these cities.

Shi Guangsheng, minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation, recently pledged that China would, in accordance with its economic development and its commitments to joining the WTO, gradually open up the sectors of finance, insurance, telecommunications, foreign trade, commerce, tourism, accounting services and law services, and allow overseas investors to start up Sino-foreign jointly-funded, cooperative or solely overseas- funded businesses in these fields.






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