BEIJING, Aug. 26 -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday stressed the need to advance high-quality development of trade in services, to provide strong support for building China into a leading trading nation and establishing a new, higher-standard open economic system.

Li made the remarks while presiding over a study session held by the State Council.

As external conditions shift and domestic industrial restructuring deepens, innovation in trade in services must be given greater priority, Li said.

China should proactively import more high-quality services, use high-standard opening-up to upgrade its domestic service industries, and accelerate institutional opening-up in trade in services, he stressed.

Efforts are to be made to foster a favorable environment for service imports, improve cross-border capital management, and promote the orderly flow of cross-border data, Li said.

The country will work to strengthen the international competitiveness of service exports and encourage manufacturers to better integrate services exports with goods exports in order to enhance the comprehensive added value, he noted.

Active steps should be taken to advance service exports in emerging fields and accelerate the cultivation and development of new business forms and models such as digital service trade, Li stressed.

The premier said China will further tap into the potential of services exports in sectors with distinctive features and develop a batch of high-quality brands tailored to meet overseas demand.

China will further leverage the effect of visa-free policies to attract more foreign visitors for travel and consumption and drive the global reach of high-quality Chinese services, Li noted.