BEIJING, Sept. 2 -- China's Ministry of Commerce announced Saturday that 16 more e-commerce parks will be listed as national e-commerce demonstration bases this year.

Speaking at a national e-commerce conference, Chen Chunjiang, assistant minister of commerce, said that the digital economy has provided a strong impetus for Chinese modernization and highlighted the vital role of the e-commerce sector in the economy and the country's development.

The e-commerce sector boasts the largest development scale and the widest coverage in the digital economy, said Chen, adding that China's e-commerce sector has witnessed innovative development, with its scale enlarged and development quality improved.

Official data showed that China's digital economy exceeded 50 trillion yuan (about 6.96 trillion U.S. dollars) for the first time in 2022, accounting for 41.5 percent of GDP.

The e-commerce-related sectors in the country have created approximately 70 million jobs, and nationwide online retail sales have ranked first globally for ten consecutive years, the data showed.

China will give a full play to the guiding role of national e-commerce demonstration bases and cultivate e-commerce industry clusters and leading enterprises with international competitive edges to empower the development of the real economy, Chen said.