Hopes for ties with ASEAN to strengthen
By Jiang Jingjing (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-10-20 05:37

NANNING: China is promising to further strengthen economic ties with the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), its fourth largest trading partner.

So said the Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai yesterday. He said that China seeks mutual economic development with ASEAN members, and that it is looking forward to working with these countries to provide favourable conditions for businesses in the region.

He said China has been speeding up the process of establishing a Free Trade Area (FTA) with ASEAN, which is expected to be implemented in 2010.

"The launching of the tariff reduction programme of the China-ASEAN FTA in July signified the start of the comprehensive implementation of the FTA," he said at the China-ASEAN Expo, which kicked off yesterday in Nanning, the capital city of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The FTA is expected to enable ASEAN's exports to China to grow by 48 per cent and China's exports to ASEAN to grow by 55 per cent. This would contribute 0.9 per cent and 0.3 per cent of the GDP (gross domestic products) of ASEAN and China respectively.

The FTA can generate tremendous business opportunities and co-operation prospects for business communities in both China and ASEAN, said Chong Quan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce.

He also said political relations between China and ASEAN have developed smoothly in recent years and major progress has been made in terms of co-operation in fields such as imports and exports, investment and contractual labour.

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce indicate that from 2002 to 2004 the average annual growth rate of bilateral trade stood at 38.9 per cent. Last year, the volume reached US$105.9 billion, exceeding the target one year ahead of the schedule.

In the first nine months of this year, trade volume reached US$94.54 billion, up 25.3 per cent.

Chong said Chinese President Hu Jintao set a goal during his visit to ASEAN in April to increase China-ASEAN trade volume to US$200 billion by 2010.

ASEAN secretary-general, Ong Keng Yong, noted that the free trade zone is a market with 1.85 billion consumers and a combined GDP of almost US$2.5 trillion.

The four-day China-ASEAN Expo has attracted 2,000 companies from China, ASEAN member nations and other countries. The event promotes products and co-operation in investment as well as providing a high-level forum for business and cultural exchanges.

Chinese Vice-President Zeng Qinghong inaugurated the opening ceremony.

At the seventh China-ASEAN leaders meeting in 2003, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao proposed the launching of the China-ASEAN expo in 2004, and proposed the idea of an annual event, which was warmly welcomed by ASEAN leaders.

ASEAN, founded in 1967, is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.

(China Daily 10/20/2005 page9)

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