With its GDP achieving a five percent growth year on year in 2024, China made great strides in its high-quality development, with trade and investment playing a crucial role in it.

China is now a major trade partner to more than 150 countries and regions. Data from the General Administration of Customs show imports and exports reached 43.85 trillion RMB in 2024, increasing by five percent year on year, a record high. Imports grew by 2.3 percent and exports by 7.1 percent.

The trade in goods with Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner countries alone amounted to 22.1 trillion RMB, and nearly 54 percent of all imports were from BRI countries.

China also signed 23 free trade agreements (FTAs) with 30 countries and regions, and the trade value with FTA partners accounted for one-third of the total foreign trade. In 2024, the FTAs with Nicaragua, Ecuador and Serbia officially came into effect.

Service trade imports and exports in the first 11 months of 2024 hit 6.7 trillion RMB, with a significant uplift of 14.2 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Cross-border e-commerce imports and exports grew by 10.8 percent and their share in total imports and exports rose to six percent.

Chinese enterprises paid more attention to the added value of products. Mechanical and electrical product exports climbed to 59.4 percent, and the number of exported cars reached six million for the first time.

The export of green, low-carbon, intelligent and digital products accelerated while traditional products with competitiveness like textiles focused more on brands and technology.

Inward and outward investment also displayed strong vitality. In the first 11 months of 2024, there were 52,000 newly established foreign invested companies in China, with 749.7 billion RMB in investment. The BRI countries invested 99.87 billion RMB in China.

In the same period, China's non-financial outbound direct investment went up by 12.4 percent with a value of 915.2 billion RMB, out of which 214.66 billion RMB was invested in BRI countries. The value of newly signed foreign contracted projects was 1.4 trillion RMB, surging by 13 percent. The accomplished turnover of China's foreign contracted projects in BRI countries reached 826.34 billion RMB.

In 2025, the ministry will accelerate the implementation of policies and measures issued last year to promote the steady growth of foreign trade, cultivate new driving forces for foreign trade, and expand export.

Investment-wise, China will further relax restrictions on market access for foreign investors, optimize its business environment, and build high-level open platforms. New driving forces for trade and investment are being unleashed at a quickened speed, which will facilitate the high-quality development of the country.