BEIJING — China has formalized 15 new national e-commerce demonstration bases in efforts to foster the development of the sector.

Vice-Minister of Commerce Qian Keming on Sept 5 granted licenses to the new bases on an e-commerce session of the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services at the China National Convention Center in Beijing.

The national e-commerce demonstration bases, with an aim to take the leading part in promoting the fast development of the sector, are clusters of local e-commerce companies and entrepreneurship and innovation platforms for the e-commerce industry.

The new ones bring the total number of official e-commerce demonstration bases to 127.

China pays high attention to the development of e-commerce, Qian said.

The sector has played a significant role in helping fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, driving consumption recovery and smoothing industrial and supply chains of foreign trade, especially since this year, according to Qian.