BEIJING -- China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) will continue to boost reforms of the services trade this year, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

Following the 14th five-year plan for the development of the services trade, the ministry will roll out more policies to facilitate the high-quality development of the digital, technology and cultural trades, MOC spokesperson Gao Feng said at a press conference.

The ministry will continue to explore the opening-up of the services trade, and work on a national negative list for cross-border trade in services.

The ministry will select areas to be built into national demonstration zones for the innovative development of the services trade.

China will further develop the digital trade and build related demonstration zones in a bid to promote technological and institutional innovation.

In 2021, China's services trade grew 16.1 percent year-on-year to nearly 5.3 trillion yuan ($831.42 billion).

In contrast to trade in merchandise, trade in services is the sale and delivery of intangible products such as transportation, tourism, telecommunication, advertising, computing and accounting, among others, according to the World Trade Organization.