BEIJING - China's trade with India saw robust growth in the first quarter, with bilateral trade hitting $22.1 billion, up 15.4 percent year-on-year, official data showed Thursday.

The growth continued from the upward momentum seen last year, when bilateral trade reached a record high of $84.4 billion, up 20.3 percent from the previous year, according to Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce.

"As two large developing countries and major emerging market economies, China and India both have a huge domestic market," Gao said. "The economies of both countries are highly complementary to each other, creating enormous potential for cooperation."

"By the end of 2017, Chinese investments into India added up to more than $8 billion, as India has become an important market for infrastructure cooperation among Chinese companies and a major investment destination," Gao said.