Nation moving quickly to establish more multilateral free trade areas

BEIJING - China will make great progress in establishing multilateral free trade areas (FTA) in the next few years, after a decade's efforts to promote bilateral FTAs since the nation entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.

During the first China-Eurasia Expo held in Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, in September, high-level officials from member nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and experts called for the establishment of a massive regional FTA to expand trade among one-fourth of the world's population.

"China believes that relevant parties should make full use of the current mechanism to discuss the feasibility of setting up an FTA among SCO member nations," Vice-Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said during the SCO Business Day in Urumqi on Sept 2.