China, ASEAN Stress Economic CooperationChina and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have stressed that the two sides should step up economic cooperation.The two sides discussed specific projects of cooperation for the next stage during the two-day meeting of the China-ASEAN Joint Cooperation Committee, which ended Wednesday in Chengdu. It is the committee's third meeting since its establishment in February 1997 in Beijing. More than 60 people, including delegates from the ASEAN's ten member states and secretariat and officials from the Foreign Ministry, the State Development Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of China, attended the meeting. The meeting was a major conference on cooperation between China and the ASEAN, and the first one held in China's western region. Participants of the meeting reiterated that the "partnership of good-neighborliness and mutual trust" between the two sides, set by Chinese and ASEAN leaders in 1997, made clear the direction for the development of relations between China and the ASEAN in the 21st century. They noted that China and the ASEAN have over the past several years expanded cooperation in various areas, ranging from bilateral relations, multilateral cooperation to regional and global affairs. The participants agreed that cooperation between China and the ASEAN has a solid foundation. Faced with the challenge of globalization, the two sides should enhance all-round cooperation, economic cooperation in particular at present, they said. A major task of the meeting was to explore specific cooperative projects meant to implement the decisions made at the China-ASEAN leaders meeting last November. China has worked out specific plans of action to carry out the suggestions for cooperation Premier Zhu Rongji put forward at last year's meeting, and the ASEAN side expressed appreciation for China's active and practical approach. |
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