(Yicai) Dec. 12 -- The Chinese government will "encourage and support service exports" over the next year, with opening-up and win-win cooperation set as key tasks in its economic agenda, according to an announcement made after China's annual two-day Central Economic Work Conference.

"Service exports" were specifically mentioned for the first time during the latest conference, which ended in Beijing yesterday. The service sector was also repeatedly highlighted, including the government's commitment to "orderly expand the autonomous opening up of the service sector."

The Central Economic Work Conference is held by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council at the end of the year. It serves as an authoritative barometer for assessing the country's economic situation and introduces stimulus measures for the year ahead.

This year's conference emphasized encouragement and support for service exports, expressing a hope to significantly boost service trade through enhanced planning and layout, Bai Ming, a member of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation's Academic Degree Committee, told Yicai.

The various policies China has introduced during this year, including those aimed at promoting service trade and expanding inbound tourism, have achieved some results, Bai noted, adding that the growth rate of service exports significantly outpaced that of imports as a result, helping to narrow the service trade deficit.

China's service trade rose 7.5 percent to CNY6.58 trillion (USD933.2 billion) in the 10 months ended Oct. 31 from a year earlier, with exports increasing 4.3 percent and imports 2.6 percent, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Commerce. The service trade deficit reached CNY766.37 billion (USD108.6 billion), down from almost CNY1.04 trillion (USD147.3 billion) the previous year.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev