Senior trade officials from Southeast Asian countries and China
Tuesday launched the first round of talks on setting up a free
trade area, which could cover a third of the world's population.
"To formally launch the negotiation process of the China-ASEAN Free Trade
Area ... is a historic step in the cooperation between China and
ASEAN," Chinese Vice Trade Minister
Long Yongtu told the opening of the meeting.
Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and
China last November agreed to establish a FTA within the next 10
years, a move that could result in an integrated market of some 1.7
billion people.
Long said the trade zone would be the largest of its kind among
developing nations and would boast a GDP of US$2 trillion and a
total of some US$1.2 trillion in annual trade volume.
"The decision of China and ASEAN to establish the FTA is also an
active attempt of strengthening cooperation among developing
nations," Long said.
However, he anticipated rocky negotiations, but pledged China's
interest in establishing the zone lay in the "necessity and
urgency" of strengthening economic links following the Asian
financial crisis and a slowdown in the global economy.
"In our road toward the FTA, we will inevitably face the challenges
of adjusting industrial structure, optimizing division of labor and
cooperation, enhancing coordination, accommodating different
development stages and clearing up skepticism and worries," Long
said.
The establishment of the zone, reflected the political will of the
region's leaders and would be based on the region's geographic
proximity, complimentary resources and industrial structures and
historic and cultural ties, he said.
Negotiations during the three-day meeting were being held at the
expert level and formed part of the third China-ASEAN senior
economic official's meeting.
(China
Daily May 14, 2002)