BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- China has brought significant opportunities and made major contributions to the world economic and trade growth after its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), a senior official said Thursday.

The country's WTO entry 17 years ago set off continuous improvement in the living standards of the Chinese people, rapid economic growth, and more importantly, the accelerated integration of the commercial interests of China and the rest of the world, Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen told a press conference.

Wang said China has become a key engine for world economic recovery and growth since 2002, contributing nearly 30 percent on average per annum to global economic growth.

The country's imports in goods jumped from 243.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2001 to 1.84 trillion dollars last year, which averaged a growth of 13.5 percent annually and made China the world's second-largest importer, he said.

Its service imports expanded from 39.3 billion dollars to 467.6 billion dollars during the period, with an annual average growth of 16.7 percent or 2.7 times of the world's average increase.

During the financial crisis, the country's efforts to stabilize the value of the yuan and promote foreign trade further demonstrated its role as a main stabilizer and powerhouse for the world's economy, Wang said.