Officials from the commerce ministry and Beijing municipal government speak at a press conference for the China International Fair for Trade in Service in Beijing on May 22, 2012. [Photo/China.org.cn]

China will host its first fair for trade in services in Beijing from May 28 to June 1 amid growing worries that the world's second-largest economy will land on a slower growth track.

The fair, akin to Canton Fair and being the first one designed for service trade, is expected to be the world's only comprehensive transaction platform for trade in services. It will play a role in facilitating deals between domestic and foreign companies on such services as banking and IT.

Despite a dismal trade situation since the beginning of this year, China's trade in service has maintained a good momentum. In 2011, China's volume of service trade surged to US$410 billion, taking the fourth spot in the global ranking. But compared with the U.S. whose service trade volume topped US$900 billion in 2011, China has a long way to catch up.

According to a five-year plan to promote trade in its service sectors, China's service trade volume is projected to reach US$600 billion by 2015 with annual growth averaging over 11 percent.

"Although the current global trade situation is sluggish, we have adequate reasons to believe that we can meet the growth target," said Qiu Hong, assistant minister of the Ministry of Commerce, told reporters at a press conference in Beijing.

"In international trade, cargo trade is liable to fluctuate with the economy, but service trade is comparatively stable," said Qiu.

Statistics provided by the commerce ministry showed that the global service trade has grown at a rate of more than 9.3 percent to account for over 20 percent of the world's trade volume since 2000. It has surpassed cargo trade's growth rate of 8.8 percent.

The development of the service trade is part of China's strategy of switching its growth pattern and stimulating household consumption. China's 12th Five-Year Plan, which outlines China's economic goals from 2011 to 2015, stipulates that the service sector's proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) should increase by 4.2 percentage points by 2015 to around 48 percent, and the number of people employed in the sector is expected to grow by 5 percentage points to 41 percent.

Beijing, as the host city of the fair, is spearheading China's efforts to drive up the percentage of service sector in its economy. The city aims to hike its current service trade strength from 75 percent to 78 percent by 2015.

"The fair will become an annual event in Beijing," Qiu said. "It will definitely give a boost to the service industry."

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