China, ASEAN Kick Off Free-trade Process

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, November 05, 2002

China, ASEAN Kick Off Free-trade Process

China and 10 Southeast Asian countries agreed Monday in Phnom Penh to establish a free-trade zone between them by 2010, a move regarded as a milestone in the Sino-ASEAN economic cooperation.

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China and 10 Southeast Asian countries agreed Monday in Phnom Penh to establish a free-trade zone between them by 2010, a move regarded as a milestone in the Sino-ASEAN economic cooperation.

Visiting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed the Framework Agreement on China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation to kick off the free-trade process.

According to the agreement, the free trade zone covers trade in goods and services, investment and economic cooperation, with the trade of goods being the core of the free trade. Tariffs and trade limits on most goods and products will be abolished gradually.

China and the ASEAN countries singled out agriculture, IT technology, human resources and investment promotion and the exploration of the Mekong River valley as the priorities for economic cooperation.

A spokesman with the Chinese delegation told Xinhua that the establishment of the China-ASEAN free trade zone is an inevitable result of the development of the ever-closer economic relations between them.

It is a great strategic decision to set up the free trade zone with a view of strengthening the good neighborliness between the two sides, he said.

The free trade zone, when set up, will boast its 1.7 trillion consumers, a combined GDP of 2 trillion US dollars and 1.2 trillion dollars of trade volume. It will also be the most populous free trade zone in the world and the largest one made up by developing countries.

The establishment of the free trade zone, he said, will serve to promote the development of China and ASEAN, expand the bilateral trade and improve the competitiveness of the whole region, the spokesman said.

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