The commerce ministry of Commerce has released data on China's foreign trade and outbound investment performance in the first quarter of this year. Foreign trade volume maintained rapid growth. Meanwhile, the country's outbound investments rose by 24.1 percent year on year. CGTN's Gary Anglebrandt, gives us more details.

The Ministry of Commerce announced Monday that China's foreign trade volume reached 6.75 trillion yuan in the first quarter of 2018, for a year-on-year increase of 9.4 percent. The ministry said rapid growth in the countries involved in the Belt & Road Initiative led to the climb in volume.

SONG XIANMAO FOREIGN TRADE DEPT. CHINESE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE "In the first quarter, trade with Belt and Road nations kept growing, with an increase of 12.9 percent -- that's 3.5 percentage points more than the overall average growth."

Meanwhile, China's non-financial outbound direct investment has increased at a steady and healthy pace for 5 consecutive months. In the first quarter, Chinese investors spent 25.5 billion US dollars on 2,030 enterprises in 140 countries and regions. Investment mainly went to leasing and commercial services, mining, manufacturing, and information technology.

HAN YONG OUTWARD INVESTMENT & ECONOMIC COOPERATION DEPT. CHINESE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE "We encourage Chinese enterprises to go global, and to participate in international economic cooperation and competition. China has contineously promoted the liberalization of trade and investment. China will expand the scope of opening up. Meanwhile, we hope other countries will treat Chinese investment objectively and rationally."

The Ministry of Commerce said China has done well at helping enterprises go global, and that irrational outbound investment has been curbed. Gary Anglebrandt, CGTN, Beijing.