"The WTO needs China to take the lead in pursuing greater services opening," Lamy said at a services trade fair in Beijing.

China's services sector is underdeveloped despite its breakneck economic growth, making up just 43 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with more than 70 percent in Western economies.

China wants to increase the share to 47 percent of GDP by 2015, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Lamy said China's milestone 2001 entry into the WTO and the ensuing stable global trade environment had contributed to the country's economic success over the past 10 years.

Opening up the services industry could unlock new sources of growth at a time when the world's second-largest economy is slowing.

But analysts are skeptical China would move quickly because it wants to protect domestic firms, even though the government says it supports freeing up the services sector, as reiterated by Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday.

Speaking at the same trade fair, Wen called for the services industry to be liberalized and he encouraged Chinese firms to expand overseas, Xinhua quoted him as saying.

Wen said the government would encourage Chinese firms to outsource software, information and construction services, while boosting imports of advanced technological and management services.

He was reported as saying China's services imports would hit $1.25 trillion in the coming five years.

China was the world's fourth-biggest trader of services in 2011, importing and exporting about $419 billion dollars worth of services, Xinhua said.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Robert Birsel)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency