BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- China will steadily expand its pilot opening-up programs in areas including value-added telecommunications, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

The decision was announced by spokesperson He Yadong in response to a media inquiry on advancing the high-quality development of China's services industry.

To further open up the industry, the ministry will also improve management of the negative list for cross-border trade in services and build national demonstration zones for the innovative development of trade in services, the spokesperson said.

On the services consumption front, the ministry will continue to foster new consumption models and scenarios, while stepping up efforts to develop high-quality, diverse and convenient lifestyle services such as domestic services, accommodation and catering, the spokesperson said.

Citing wholesale and retail as a key component of the services industry, the spokesperson said that measures will be taken to ensure the reasonable layout of bulk commodity spot markets, diversify business models in industrial consumer goods markets, and foster major agricultural product wholesale markets.

The services industry is a pillar of China's economy. Its value-added output exceeded 80 trillion yuan (about 11.7 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, accounting for 57.7 percent of the country's GDP.

According to the outline of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), the country will comprehensively improve the quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the services industry to better support industrial upgrading, meet the livelihood needs of the people, and create employment opportunities.