Further opening on the agenda for five key areas of services

China will release new catalogues in five key areas within trade in services soon to support the nation's second round of opening-up for this sector in 2019, commerce officials said.

At present, the five key catalogues have been substantially revised and will be released soon. The further opening of the hightech, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries is expected to be a major breakthrough in the further opening of China's service market, said Xian Guoyi, director-general of the Department of Trade in Service and Commercial Services at the Ministry of Commerce.

He said the ministry is currently working with other government branches such as the General Administration of Customs and the Ministry of Finance to discuss details of tax incentives, as well as favorable policies for the research and development of pharmaceutical business in bonded areas, and the new optimization policies will be soon introduced.