Shanghai, an international metropolis in China, witnessed a strengthening of the city's capabilities and core competencies last year while aiming to achieve high-quality development, said Gong Zheng, mayor of Shanghai, at a news conference on Thursday.

Gong said Shanghai's gross domestic product reached 4.72 trillion yuan ($653.1 million) last year, ranking among the top cities in the world. The total transaction volume of all financial markets combined hit a new record of 3,373.6 trillion yuan, the highest in the world.

The city, a major port, also dealt with 3.6 percent of the world's total trade in goods last year, maintaining the first place among all cities in the world. The container throughput reached 49.16 million TEUs, ranking first in the world for 14 consecutive years, Gong said.

The research and development expenditure increased to about 4.4 percent of the city's GDP, and Shanghai joined the world's top five science and technology clusters for the first time last year, he said.