China will relax market access for cross-border trade in services to provide foreign companies with greater transparency and certainty of access to the services field, Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said Thursday.

The country will speed up free trade zone upgrades to promote the opening up of trade in services, Wang said during the 2022 China International Fair for Trade held in Beijing.

According to Wang, China plans to conclude the text negotiations on the World Trade Organization's multilateral agreement on investment facilitation for development by the end of this year.

China has officially commenced negotiations on joining the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, he added.

The country is to start the establishment of the first batch of demonstration zones for national service trade innovation and development, set up new comprehensive pilots for service industry development, and introduce new measures for service industry opening and innovation, said Wang.

Official data shows that last year, China's global service import and export volume reached 821.2 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 16 percent, reaching a record high.