Southeast Asia tops agenda of global investors

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will become a hub for global trade as it draws more interest from countries worldwide in acknowledging free trade within the region, analysts have said.

"After becoming an outside member of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia this July, the United States will seek a way to promote closer trade cooperation with ASEAN during the upcoming APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting," said Xu Ningning, deputy secretary-general of the China-ASEAN Business Council.

Six outside members of the treaty, including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India, have developed free trade area policies with ASEAN and will realize zero tariff policies in the next year. Among them, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) will be the biggest by a population of 1.9 billion.