China has set a growth target for foreign trade at 6 percent for next year, down from about 7.5 percent in 2014.

Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said on Dec 28th that the ministry's main tasks next year will be stabilizing external demand, improving the quality of high-end manufacturing and adjusting the industrial structure.

"As other developing economies such as India and Vietnam pose a greater challenge for Chinese businesses in developed markets, especially in the field of low-end manufacturing, exporters in China will be encouraged to develop new competitive edges through building brands, overseas acquisition, better services, research centers and global sales networks," said Gao.

Ren Hongbin, executive vice-president of the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, the ministry's think tank, said this is a prudent move amid a challenging external environment and growing efforts to expand domestic demand.

China's export growth slowed in November while imports unexpectedly contracted, raising pressure on government to introduce more stimulus measures.

Even though the country's exports rose by 4.7 percent year-on-year to $211.6 billion in November, the growth rate decelerated compared with October's 11.6 percent and 15.3 percent in September, according to the General Administration of Customs.

The sluggish world economy, particularly in the European Union, Japan, Russia and Brazil, have reduced demand for Chinese exports, while weak domestic demand accounted for shrinking imports.

However, the think tank forecast growth of 10 percent next year for service exports, including engineering, construction, tourism, information and communication technologies, which have become new engines of growth for the Chinese economy over the past three years.

Gao said the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road has enhanced partnerships with various African nations, and new free trade zones in Tianjin, Guangdong and Fujian will become growth points to enrich exports in 2015.

Gu Xuebin, a senior researcher at CAITEC, said: "The 6 percent target for foreign trade growth can certainly be reached with flexible trade policies. China is already the world's biggest exporter but it is losing its advantage of cheap labor, and industrial upgrading demands improvement in workers' productivity and skills".

The deterioration of global demand caused by political and currency chaos between the West and Russia, low employment rates in developing and developed nations, as well as dropping international crude oil and commodity prices, have prompted China to realize that it must carry out economic restructuring to upgrade the nation's manufacturing system.

Wang Haifeng, a researcher with the Institute for International Economic Research at the National Development and Reform Commission, said that as China's exports no longer focus on shoes and toys, products such as bullet trains, fine machinery and offshore engineering will have plenty of opportunities in 2015.

Chinese relations with Africa are set to grow next year, with both sides considering upgrading a ministerial-level forum to a leadership summit, a senior Foreign Ministry official said.

Lin Songtian, director-general of the Department of African Affairs, told China Daily on Dec 24 that the past year has seen relations develop rapidly.

Both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang visited Africa in 2014, and 13 African leaders came to China.

Sino-African trade was $180.6 billion from January through October 2014, a 4.5 percent increase compared with the same period last year, Lin said, as he predicted that the figure will pass $200 billion for the entire year.

Infrastructure has played a key role in relations. The November agreement to create a 1,402 km coastal railway in Nigeria is China's single largest overseas project.

Meanwhile, the Mombasa-Nairobi railway in Kenya and the Addis Ababa-Djibouti rail projects in East Africa are progressing smoothly.

With the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation ministerial conference to be held in South Africa in 2015, more infrastructure projects are around the corner, Lin said.

Lin said China will get actively involved in highway, railway, telecommunications, power and other projects in Africa in 2015 to facilitate regional connectivity, with aviation cooperation and a high-speed railway network a focus.

The forum, in its 15th term, could be upgraded to a summit between leaders, said Liu Hongwu, director of the School of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University.

Liu's view was echoed by Lin Songtian, who said the upgrade is under serious consideration and will be discussed by the forum and the ministry.

The forum, which takes place every three years, is a framework to deepen the China-Africa partnership, strengthen economic and trade cooperation, and explore a common path that reflects both China's and Africa's realities.

Agriculture, food security, healthcare and education, will be the forum's focus in 2015, Lin said.

"Cooperation on healthcare should be emphasized. Poor medical and health conditions in Africa have been exposed during the fight against Ebola," Liu said.

"Systems, ideas and experience concerning communication and social mobilization that China gained in fighting SARS should be shared with African countries as providing emergency aid is only a palliative."

China has provided four rounds of emergency aid worth $120 million and sent 600 medical personnel to Ebola-affected areas.

Senior Chinese and United States officials met in Chicago in December for a high-level forum to address bilateral trade and investment issues and promote business opportunities.

The Chinese delegation to the 25th session of the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade from Dec 16 to 18 was led by Vice-premier Wang Yang on the Chinese side. From the US side, the team was led by Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and US Trade Representative Michael Froman.

It was the first time for the JCCT to include a full day of events to facilitate private-sector engagement with Chinese and US officials, according to the US Department of Commerce.

This year's meeting included a roundtable discussion on bilateral investment, a cooperative travel and tourism program and developing a shared vision of economic leadership.

Fast-growing trade and investment ties have long been regarded as an important anchor for a stable bilateral relationship.

Speaking to the President's Export Council, US President Barack Obama said that China has great interest in the relationship with the US and recognizes the interdependence that has evolved between the two economies.

"The business investment treaty that they have shown an interest in negotiating could end up being a significant piece of business. We actually saw some movement during my last trip on issues surrounding technology," Obama told the council, comprised of private business leaders, lawmakers, governors and mayors and his cabinet members.

During Obama's trip to Beijing in November, the two governments reached a deal on climate change with commitment on reducing carbon emissions. They also agreed to the reciprocal issue of 10-year business and tourist visas and five-year student visas, to expand the scope of the Information Technology Agreement and speed up negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty.

In Beijing, representatives from both sides began the 17th round of BIT talks.

"It was agreed that the two sides will make their best efforts to reach an agreement by the end of the year on core issues and major clauses of the treaty and launch negative list negotiations next year," Zhang Yesui, China's vice-foreign minister, told the annual conference of the China US Exchange Foundation in Hong Kong.

Sean Minder, the China program manager and research associate at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, said a BIT would increase foreign direct investment between China and the US.

"The economic benefits from increased FDI would flow both ways and encourage needed structural reforms in both countries," Miner wrote in an article posted on the Peterson Institute website.

Pritzker hailed the visa agreement, noting that 1.8 million Chinese traveled to the US last year, spent $21 billion and supported more than 100,000 American jobs.

"With this change in our visa policy, up to 7.3 million Chinese visitors will travel to the US by 2021, contributing nearly $85 billion per year to our economy and supporting as many as 440,000 jobs, four times the economic and job impact of today," Pritzker told the White House Travel Bloggers Summit on Tuesday.

Pritzker and US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz announced on Monday that they will lead a business-development mission to China in April to focus on industries that support smart cities and smart growth, an effort to help strengthen and expand US-China clean-energy cooperation following the recent climate deal.

The US is China's largest trading partner and China is the second-largest trade partner for the US, trailing Canada.

According to a US-China Business Council report, US exports to China have grown faster than exports to any other major US trading partner, rising 255 percent from 2004 to 2013.

In 2013, US exports to China helped support a wide range of industries, such as transportation equipment, crop production, computers and electronics and chemicals, along with export-related jobs in US port cities, according to the report.

China was among the top three export markets for 42 US states in 2013. More US governors are leading trade missions to China these days. Late last month, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder led his fourth trade mission to China.

Amid booming bilateral trade and investment, the two countries have also struggled to resolve their differences and disputes.

• [Editor:Yueleilei]