This year China has made significant progress in consumption and trade. That was the message from the annual work conference, held by China's Ministry of Commerce. The government laid out guidelines for the country's commercial development in the coming year. Our reporter Zou Yun has the story.

Becoming stronger in both trade and commercial consumption, Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said China's foreign trade in the first 11 months of 2018 hit a record high reaching 4.2 trillion US dollars. The country's retail sales of consumer goods in the January-November period hit 34.5 trillion yuan, or around 5 trillion US dollars. Consumption has become a major driver of economic growth, making up nearly 80 percent of the country's total. Meanwhile, consumption in service sector is also gaining momentum.

ZHONG SHAN CHINESE COMMERCE MINISTER "Consumption in the service sector used to be weak in China, but this year for the very first time, services consumption in the first 3 quarters took up over 50 percent of household consumption. Spending on culture, tourism and sports is also on the rise. Consumption of high quality and customized goods were also seen as new trends."

Zhong Shan said in 2019, the Commerce Ministry will keep pushing forward efforts in reform and opening up, expanding consumption, speeding up the development of free trade zones and ports, as well as building up new bilateral and multilateral free trade protocols. According to the meeting, trade tensions with the US are one of the biggest external challenges and uncertainties facing China's economy. The Ministry of Commerce said it will help to implement the consensus reached by the presidents of China and the US, which was outlined at the G20 Summit in Argentina.

Zou Yun, CGTN, Beijing.