FocusServicesQuality and efficient development, 7-8 april, national services congress, beijing. The conference sent an important signal to the outside world: on the new journey, we need to focus on demand-driven, reform-oriented, science- and technology-enabling, open-ended cooperation, deep-seated services-enrichment initiatives and efforts to create servicesQuality developmentNew situation。
This is the first national conference in a new era to focus on services. In fact, this is not the first positive signal of the release of “service expansion”。
The central economic work conference, held at the end of 2025, in the deployment of its 2026 priority mandate, referred to the establishment of an action programme for the enhancement of the services sector as “an orderly expansion of the autonomous opening of services”. The focus has intensified the development of new dynamics, and the 2026 report on the work of the government clearly states that “enhanced quality services”. At the eleventh plenary meeting of the state council, held on 16 march this year, it was emphasized that a number of high-intensity and aggressive priorities were to be captured, including “active design for the promotion of service expansion”. At the standing meeting of the state council on 27 march, it was noted that the services sector was an important component of the modern industrial system and that it was linked to high-quality development and modernization in general
At the policy level, services are placed in a more strategic position. Why is the importance of services so emphasized
On the one hand, services have become a central force for high-quality economic development. According to the national statistics institute, in 2025, for the first time, the value added of the services sector in the country exceeded rmb 80 trillion, representing 57. 7 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), and the contribution of services to national economic growth was 61. 4 per cent, an increase of 3. 7 percentage points over the previous year. In other words, more than $6 of every $10 of our GDP growth comes from services. The contribution of services to economic growth cannot be underestimated。
Services are key engines of employment “water reservoirs” and expansion of domestic demand in terms of employment and livelihood. According to statistics, services absorb about 50 per cent of the country's employed population. In the first two months of this year, retail sales of services grew by 5. 6 per cent over the same period, significantly faster than retail sales of goods. In 2025, service consumption accounted for 46. 1 per cent of per capita consumption expenditure in urban and rural areas。
It can be said that the size and quality of services largely determine the effectiveness of a country or region in building a modern industrial system, the high and low population well-being index and the quality of economic development。
Services have become one of the most dynamic industries in our current economy and one of the most potential industries for future economic development。
When it comes to services, many think about catering, travel, accommodation... This is a well-known service of life, which is closely linked to food and shelter. In addition to this, another aspect of services — productive services — is also important. Productive services mainly provide services for production activities in various market segments, such as supply chain management, financial services, r & d design, etc。
In the area of productive services, we need to move from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power, with further efficiency gains in the areas of research and development design, quality testing, financial insurance and modern logistics. In 2025, our value added in productive services was estimated to be less than 35 per cent of GDP, a gap compared to 40 per cent in the eu and 47. 7 per cent in the united states. But the gap is potential. The potential contribution of productive services to economic growth has been released more fully as the division of labour in our manufacturing industry extends to the service chain and will be an important economic growth pole for our country。
With regard to living services, our population's service consumption, which is 46. 1 per cent, still has greater scope for growth than that of the world's major developed economies. At the same time, the country has an oversized market of more than 1. 4 billion people, with per capita GDP exceeding $13,000 for three consecutive years. Consumption is accelerating the shift from “no” to “no” and leading to the accelerated development of services such as tourism, culture, sports, health and old age. Behind this is a huge development increase。
The “fifty five” programme outlines the overall improvement of the quality and competitiveness of services to enable them to support industrial upgrading, meet people's needs and generate employment expansion. The national commission for development and reform predicts that our services sector will exceed 10 trillion yuan during the “155” period. "where does this billion dollars come from?" the national conference on services set out the direction of promoting the extension of productive services to specialization and high value chains, facilitating the development of high-quality and diversified life services, and developing more brands of “china services”。
More specifically, the idea is to promote greater inclusion and quality of basic needs services around the daily needs of the population. The provision of upgraded services has been expanded around the population's pursuit of a high quality of life. Qualified individualized services are organized around diversified consumer demand. (c) to accelerate the expansion of scientific and technological services around the specialization and high-endization of r & d design. The promotion of advanced manufacturing services around the value of production chains. (c) to invest in the upgrading of complementary professional services around market values。
Prior to that, shen danyang, head of the drafting team for the report on the work of the government, and head of the research unit of the state council, mentioned three key policy initiatives to improve the quality of services: support for technology empowerment, provision of policy guarantees and promotion of reform and opening up. In particular, emphasis should be placed on addressing the application of technology and landscapes to promote high-value-added, innovative services development; applying policy instruments such as fiscal finance and factor security to support them and further improving services standards systems; and further removing institutional barriers to services development, vigorously developing trade in services and promoting orderly market opening for services。
The signal has been released. The convening of the national conference on services reflects the importance of services as the primary industry in the overall context of economic and social development. This meeting was not just a mobilization but a new stage in the efficient and quality development of our services sector. For china, expansion of the services sector is not a choice but a necessity. The answer to the question of “potential” to “power” has given the chinese economy a stronger chassis and a longer backlash。
