Jakarta, Aug. 25 -- APEC economies are moving to cut regulatory barriers to services trade, advancing work on cross-border data flows, professional licensing and technical standards as they begin implementing a new regional services roadmap.

"The full potential of digital services in terms of trade and investment will also not be realized if barriers still hinder data flows," Convenor of the APEC Group on Services, Peter Ta-Lin Shih, said, according to an APEC statement on Monday.

Officials meeting in Dalian, China, are working on an implementation plan for the APEC Roadmap for Innovative, Competitive and Resilient Services, endorsed by trade ministers in May.

The Group on Services has 12 months from the endorsement to develop the plan...