by Liu Jie, Yao Yuan, and Wei Mengjia

BEIJING, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Former director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy has expressed optimism for today's globalization, saying the international trading system still offers opportunities for developing economies in the services sector.

"If you look at volumes of international trade, they are still expanding. There is no regression," Lamy, who headed the WTO from 2005 to 2013, said at a dialogue event at Peking University in Beijing over the weekend. "What we have is a different globalization from the previous system -- a slow expansion of international trade."

He noted that digitalization and the trade in services are still pushing international trade. "Trade in goods is now growing less rapidly than trade in services, and a lot of these trading services rely on the digital infrastructures and data transmission."

The booming service trades continue to bring new chances for developing economies that used to benefit mainly from global trade in goods. "There is ample room, notably in services, which is relatively the under-developed part," Lamy told Xinhua.

According to the WTO, world trade in goods and commercial services, on a balance-of-payments basis, expanded by 4 percent to 32.2 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024, following a 2-percent decline in 2023. Trade in goods rose by 2 percent while services grew strongly by 10 percent. The share of services in global trade increased to 27.2 percent, its highest share since 2005.

The global business community has increasingly recognized China's sustained efforts to open its services sector, widely seen as a market of immense potential. According to China's Ministry of Commerce, China's total services trade volume surpassed 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time in 2024, ranking second globally.

The country established a nationwide negative list management system for cross-border trade in services in 2024. It also vowed to increase export credit insurance support for services exports and to optimize its visa policies for personnel of foreign-invested enterprises, people engaged in sci-tech research, and high-level talent coming to China.

In certain pilot free trade zones, overseas residents can now open securities or futures accounts to engage in businesses such as securities investment consulting or futures trading advisory services. Enditem

(Intern Ning Ning contributed to the story.)