ASEAN-China Free Trade Area to Create 'Win-win' Situation

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, October 18, 2002

ASEAN-China Free Trade Area to Create 'Win-win' Situation

The plan of setting up a free trade area (FTA) between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China is mutually beneficial, experts attending a regional seminar held in Bangkok said.

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The plan of setting up a free trade area (FTA) between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China is mutually beneficial, experts attending a regional seminar held in Bangkok said.

Such a "win-win" deal will increase ASEAN exports to China by 48 percent and Chinese exports to ASEAN by 55 percent, said Li Wei, a senior expert from the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, at the "Future with China" forum, being held here between Oct. 17 and 18, according to local TV news reports Friday.

Leaders of ASEAN countries and China agreed in last November in Brunei to establish the world's largest FTA within 10 years. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

According to Li, the ASEAN and Chinese economies will increase by 0.9 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, as a result of such a FTA.

"Liberalization of trade and investment as well as economic and technological cooperation will also help enhance both parties' production capability, efficiency and product competitiveness. This will create more export opportunities to world markets," he said.

The planned ASEAN-China FTA will also reduce over-dependence on the developed economies such as the United States, Europe and Japan, and attract more foreign investment, Li said.

Sheng Lijun, senior fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, a regional think-tank, said an ASEAN-China FTA will create an economic region of 1.7 billion consumers, a combined economy of 2 trillion US dollars and two-way trade of 1.23 trillion dollars.

The two-day seminar is organized by Thailand's Nation multimedia group and attended by some 300 leading experts on China issues as well as top business executives in the region.

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