China's Ministry of Commerce said on Jan 29 that it has managed to stabilize foreign trade and investments and boost recovery in consumption in 2020.

Besides looking into collaborations and investments on a global scale, the ministry said domestic consumption and foreign trade were top priorities for the country in 2020.

The total retail sales for consumer goods hit over 39 trillion yuan ($6 trillion) in 2020, down nearly 4 percent year-on-year. But the rate of decline narrowed compared with the first half of 2020, with consumption playing a key role in China's economy.

"Final consumption accounts for 54.3 percent of GDP, and consumption is still the rock of stable economic operations," said Vice-Minister of Commerce Qian Keming.

Despite challenges brought by the pandemic, China saw rapid growth in new areas of commerce in 2020, such as online shopping and livestreaming.

Officials said the online retail of physical goods increased by nearly 15 percent year-on-year, making it the world's largest online retail market for eight consecutive years.

Besides, officials said China has been working to boost international collaboration through multiple ways, such as the signing of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

"China has signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, the world's largest regional free trade zone. The country has also completed the China-EU investment agreement negotiations on schedule, which has become an important milestone in China-EU relations," Qian said.

China also said it will continue to advance reforms to open up its economy, through building a free trade port and deepening multilateral economic and trade cooperation.

The country's actual use of foreign investment in 2020 was almost 1 trillion yuan, up by more than 6 percent year-on-year. Imports and exports have also reached record highs in terms of scale and international market share.