Xia Nong said on Friday that specific policies were still being finalized, but insisted China will improve the service industry business environment.

"Expanding domestic demand will be a major stimulus for China's economic growth, and the greatest potential will come from the service sector."

He said that for the first time in the country's history, jobs provided by the service sector exceeded those in the agricultural industry in 2011, with new job growth in the sector increasing by 1.1 percent in 2011, to 35.7 percent of the country's total.

China's service sector generated 43.2 percent of China's GDP and employed about 34.6 percent of the workforce in 2010, which is still much lower than that of countries such as the United States and Japan, according to official figures.

China has set goals to raise those two figures by 4 percentage points respectively by 2015, from 2010 levels, according to a plan for the development of the service sector.

The plan, adopted by the State Council in September, was the first Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) for the sector.

It stresses services closely related to the restructuring of some industries in particular, including finance, transportation, logistics, high-tech, design consulting, business services, e-commerce, engineering consulting, professional services and energy conservation.

Industries to meet people's diversified demands were also listed in the plan, including the cultural industry, tourism, health and social assistance, legal services, and household services.

Contact the writer at lanlan@chinadaily.com.cn

 

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