China’s service trade is set to expand by at least 10 percent this year as the Central Government aims to accelerate the sector’s development to counter the slowdown in the trade of goods, said the country’s Ministry of Commerce.

China’s state-run news agency Xinhua quoted Shen Danyang, spokesperson for the Ministry, as saying that work is being done to “further expand the scale of the sector and optimise its structure”.

The Ministry expects service trade to top US$650 billion this year, and has set an annual target of US$1 trillion by 2020, Mr Shen added.

China’s service trade hit US$604.3 billion in 2014, up by 12.6 percent from the previous year, according to official data.

China’s State Council, headed by Premier Li Keqiang, released a set of guidelines on February 14 vowing to boost support for service trade in the country, in a bid to increase employment opportunities, help restructure the economy and improve the quality of development of the nation.

Authorities are mulling new policy initiatives, such as new funding channels and tax breaks, according to the guidelines cited by Xinhua.