BEIJING - China's Ministry of Commerce will boost opening-up and ease market access in 2025, it said on Thursday.

After all foreign investment restrictions in the manufacturing sector have been lifted, the opening-up of the services industry will be advanced steadily, promoting pilot programs in fields such as telecommunication, health care and education, a ministry spokesman said.

The ministry will revise and expand the catalog of industries that encourage foreign investment to make investment policies more attractive, he noted.

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A total of 59,080 new foreign-invested firms were established across China in 2024, an increase of 9.9 percent year-on-year, according to ministry data.

In 2024, foreign direct investment in the Chinese mainland in actual use totaled 826.25 billion yuan ($115.22 billion), down 27.1 percent year-on- year.