China-ASEAN Expo propels FTA construction

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-29 10:27

In addition, negotiations on investment have gained positive results, Gao said, noting that upon its completion, the China-ASEAN FTA will witness a total economic aggregate of US$5.2 trillion and a total trade volume of US$4.5 trillion. With a population of 1.9 billion people, the China-ASEAN FTA will become the most populous FTA in the world, Gao said.

He also stressed that over the past five years, the Expo has always kept pace with the FTA construction.

Over 98 percent of Expo exhibits are products that are listed in the FTA tariff-reduction program.

As FTA construction has sped up, trade between China and ASEAN has maintained fast growth.

The bilateral trade volume was only US$105.88 billion in 2004, while in 2007, the number jumped to US$202.5 billion, Gao said.

He pointed that as the China-ASEAN trade volume accounts for 10percent of China's total trade volume, ASEAN has in fact become the fourth largest trading partner of China.

He said, in the first half of this year, bilateral trade volume has reached US$115.789 billion, up by 25.8 percent over the same period of last year.

"As this momentum continues, ASEAN is expected to take Japan's place to be China's third largest trading partner in 2010, only after the EU and the United States," said Gao.

Li said, the fifth Expo will spotlight the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) cooperation. During the event, the Ministry of Industry and Information of China will sponsor the third China-ASEAN ICT Week as well as relevant forums.

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