China's overseas service trade will hit US$400 billion by 2010, over double last year's US$158.2 billion, said a senior official Wednesday.

"The government has attached great importance to the service trade, and the opening-up policy would also stimulate its development," said Liao Xiaoqi, Vice Minister of Commerce, at a symposium.

Recent government stats show China's overseas service trade rose 18 percent year-on-year to US$158.2 billion in 2005 while the sector's trade deficit dropped three percent to US$9.4 billion.

"Despite its fast growth rate, the service trade has not reached a balance with the cargo trade," said Shan Qingjiang, an official with the Ministry of Commerce.

China ranks third overall in the world with a foreign cargo trade volume of US$1.4 trillion, but only places seventh in the service trade

China's service trade structure needs to be improved since high-value modern service trade is still growing. Proportionally, to finance, information services and telecommunications, it stood at five percent, two percent and one percent last year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2006)