China issues guideline for high-quality trade development

BEIJING - The Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council on Thursday jointly issued a directive calling for high-quality trade development.

By 2022, China aims to have an optimized trade structure and a notable improvement in trade efficiency, and set up an evaluation system for high-quality trade development, according to the document.

The guideline stressed the need to speed up the development of modern services, especially production-related services, while modern services should be deeply integrated with the advanced manufacturing industry.

China will gradually advance from processing and manufacturing to research and design, marketing services and brand management, generating more added value through exports.

The guideline also urged coordinating the development of trade and the environment, with strict control over the export of high-polluting and high energy consumption products.