BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhuanet) -- China's e-commerce, in a crucial stage of development, is to grow at over 50 percent every year, said Song Ling, chairman of China Electronic Commerce Association.

    "E-commerce has become an important part of people's life and also a strong driver of China's market economy," said Song at the eighth China International E-commerce Conference held here Sunday.

    In recent years, e-commerce has been expanding fast with annualsales rising at 40 percent on average. According to Song, Beijing's transaction volume of e-commerce reached 66.6 billion yuan (8.27yuan against US dollar) last year, Shanghai over 70 billion yuan, and south China's Guangzhou 23 billion yuan.

    Rural areas have started over 2,000 websites for e-commerce. E-commerce lowered the transaction cost in traditional industries and improved service management in sectors of finance, telecom andlogistics, Song said.

    She estimated that, this year, the development of e-commerce would focus on the construction of a credit record system, electronic payments, modern logistics and human resources.

    The environment for e-commerce in China is improving gradually.On April 1, China's first "electronic signature act" started to take effect, which is considered the milestone of China's e-commerce development.

    The eighth China International E-commerce Conference was launched by China Electronic Commerce Association and organized by Xinhuanet.com. Enditem