ASEAN, China Vowing to Speed up Free-trade Plan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, September 03, 2003

ASEAN, China Vowing to Speed up Free-trade Plan

Economic ministers from ten ASEAN member countries held talks with Chinese commerce minister Wednesday in Phnom Penh, aimed to accelerate the creation of a free trade area.

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Economic ministers from ten ASEAN member countries held talks with Chinese commerce minister Wednesday in Phnom Penh, aimed to accelerate the creation of a free trade area.

It is the Second Consultation between China and the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM), the first one being held in Brunei in September 2002.

Chinese Commerce Minister Lu Fuyuan co-chaired the 2nd consultation meeting with his Cambodian counterpart Cham Prasidh.

The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, when completed in 2010, will be the world's largest market with 1.7 billion consumers.

"The trade between China and ASEAN reached 34.24 billion US dollars for the first half of 2003 and that China's imports of 20.47 billion dollars from ASEAN represented an impressive 55.5 percent growth, making ASEAN the fourth largest supplier for China," the Joint Media Statement released after the meeting said.

"Given that ASEAN-China trade was increasing at a rate of 45 percent for the first half of 2003, trade volume by the end of 2003 was expected to surpass the 70 billion dollars," it added.

The ministers expressed their satisfaction over the progress on the negotiations for the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA). Theyare confident that the negotiations will be completed well within the deadlines.

Meanwhile, the progress made in other areas of economic cooperation also pleased the ministers, specifically in the areas as agriculture; information and communication technology; human resource development; investment; and the Mekong River basin development.

The ministers, encouraged by the rapid growth of trade and investment flows between ASEAN and China, reaffirmed their determination to advance economic cooperation especially in the area of trade and investment.

Lu Fuyuan will also attend the 6th ASEAN Economic Ministers and Ministers of China, Japan and South Korea Consultation Wednesday afternoon.

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