A port in Xiamen is full of containers. [Photo/WeChat account: xiamen_swj]

The Xiamen municipal bureau of commerce, the Administration of the Xiamen Area of the China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and a national fund for service trade innovation development signed a cooperation agreement on Sept 1.

The national fund for service trade innovation development was approved by the State Council and jointly established by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, and China Merchants Group. The fund is positioned to guide local and social capital to increase investment in service export enterprises to further boost the global competitiveness of the nation's service trade sector.

According to the agreement, the west-Straits investment headquarters of the national fund will be established in Xiamen, Fujian province to attract leading service trade companies nationwide to gather in Xiamen, as well as to increase investment to Xiamen's high-quality service trade companies.

More efforts will be made to boost the high-quality development of service trade in Xiamen, such as promoting the establishment of a Xiamen service trade investment fund and promoting the national service trade innovation development fund to give priority to investment in Xiamen high-quality service trade companies.

Xiamen has been bolstering its efforts to develop service trade innovation in recent years. Statistics showed that in the first half of this year, the exports and imports of Xiamen's service trade sector generated 34.32 billion yuan ($5.32 billion), up 17.6 percent year-on-year, showing steady growth.