BEIJING, May 25 (China Space News) — China plans to launch 30 Beidou navigation satellites during the 13th five-year plan period (2016-2020), capping its three-step strategy to build a global navigation system by 2020.

The first batch of 18 satellites will be launched before 2018 to cover countries along the routes in "the Belt and Road" initiative, according to the Seventh China Satellite Navigation Conference, which opened in Changsha on Wednesday.

The market value of satellite navigation services on the Chinese mainland reached 190 billion yuan in 2015, to which Beidou contributed about 30 percent.

Beidou also aided some nations' disaster prevention and relief, transportation and telecommunication efforts, as well as financial services.