China-ASEAN Expo bolsters regional trade

By Wang Xinyuan

The sixth China-ASEAN Expo opened Tuesday in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the last major meeting between the regions before the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) is launched in 2010.

CAFTA will be established as planned on January 1, 2010, setting a significant milestone in regional economic cooperation, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang was reported by Xinhua News Agency Tuesday as saying at the opening ceremony of the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit which will last until Saturday.

CAFTA will cover an area of 1.9 billion consumers, with a GDP worth of $6 trillion, and a trading volume estimated to be $1.2 trillion. It will be the world's largest free trade area in terms of population and number of developing countries covered, and the third largest economically following the European Union and the North American Free Trade Area.

According to the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation signed in November 2002, a zero-tariff rate will apply to the majority of commodities traded between China and the six original ASEAN countries, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand in 2010, and the four new ASEAN members Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam in 2015.

This year, a total of 2,450 companies are participating the Expo, with 4,000 booths, 68.3 percent of the total being reserved by Chinese companies.

The China-ASEAN Expo, initiated by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the 7th China-ASEAN summit in 2003, is held annually, serving as a platform to increase regional exchange.

During the previous events, a total of 119,000 business representatives participated, with a trading volume of $6.52 billion and deals worth $28.62 billion finalized for international cooperative projects.

"Despite the 21 percent year-on-year decline in bilateral trade from January to August following the global financial crisis, the portion of overall foreign trade China-ASEAN trade accounted for did not drop," Xu Ningning, secretary-general of the China-ASEAN Business Council Chinese Secretariat, told the Global Times.

China and ASEAN countries are each other's fourth largest trading partners. China is Vietnam's largest trade partner, the second largest to Singapore, Myanmar and Thailand, and the No. 3 trade partner of Indonesia and the Philippines.

Bilateral investment so far in 2009 exceeded $60 billion, said Xu. China's investment in ASEAN countries in 2008 grew 125 percent from 2007.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the 12th ASEAN-China Summit and the 12th ASEAN Plus Three Summit (China, Japan and ROK) held from October 23 to 25 in Thailand.
 

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