China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) will draw up a timetable for offering foreign investment greater access to the country's services sector, an official said Thursday.

With a plan to draw up the timetable, the ministry is set to make progress on loosening controls on foreign investment in the services sector, following reform pledges made at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee, Qiu Guangling, deputy director of the Department of Foreign Investment Administration of MOFCOM, told a news conference in Beijing.

As part of the reform pledges, the new leadership vows to allow greater foreign investment access to services industries including finance, education, culture and healthcare.

Efforts will continue in simplifying administrative approval procedures, Qiu said, while noting the country will push for the establishment of an open and fair market environment to protect the legal rights of foreign-invested enterprises.

Exports and imports of the country's services sector are estimated to exceed $520 billion in 2013, up 11 percent from the previous year, Yao Jian, a spokesperson for the ministry, said at the news conference.

He noted that China would remain the world's third-largest trader of services.

Trade in services is expected to see continued growth momentum in the coming years, hitting over $1 trillion by 2020, according to Yao.