WTO and Trade in Services: Reflections on Accelerating the Development of Shanghai's Modern Service Industry

Author: Gao Weiyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Shanghai, as a central city of China's most developed economy and a window for opening-up, is currently in a critical period of urban functional transformation and achieving a shift in growth models. Developing modern service industries, expanding the opening-up of the service sector, and actively participating in international trade in services are important means and paths to accelerate Shanghai's urban functional transformation and industrial restructuring. From the perspectives of service trade and the development of modern service industries, this book specifically analyzes the potential challenges faced by Shanghai's service industries—such as culture, circulation, telecommunications, banking, legal services, education, logistics, healthcare, information services, and real estate—in furthering their development under the framework of the WTO. It combines WTO rules and international operational experiences while also linking to the actual characteristics and development needs of Shanghai, proposing relevant countermeasures and suggestions for Shanghai to promote the development of modern service industries and service trade, which are worth attention. I sincerely hope that the publication of this book will spark the interest of relevant government departments, state-owned enterprises, and professional service institutions, enabling them to more effectively contribute to the cause of building a service-oriented and innovative modern socialist international metropolis. They should also discover and solve new problems in practice, summarize and elevate new experiences, and push the development of Shanghai's modern service industries and service trade to a new height.