ASEAN countries and China are planning to set up a free trade area of 1.7 billion consumers, the largest in the world by 2015 with the annual GDP of $2 trillion, mouthpieces of state-controlled media reported.
This common target will be one of a series of issues that will be put on the table of the two-day ASEAN-China summit to be held in Beijing.
At the event, ASEAN and Chinese leaders will discuss measures to boost multilateral and comprehensive cooperation between the ASEAN block and the powerhouse China with priorities for agriculture, IT technology, human resource development, and investment and trade sectors.
In a press conference Thursday, Benito Valeriano, an executive director at the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Philippines, said leaders from China and ASEAN will discuss political developments, “most notably the nuclear test conducted early in October by North Korea.”
But the resource-rich Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea, which is claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and China, is also expected to be on the agenda.
Bilateral trade between China and ASEAN increases 20 per cent a year. ASEAN is now China’s fourth largest trade partner while China is ASEAN’s fifth biggest.
Bilateral trade between ASEAN and China last year reached $117.24 billion, up 23.5 per cent on year, of which China’s exports rose 31.1 per cent against that in 2004 and imports up 18.4 per cent.
ASEAN is China’s fifth largest importer while China is ASEAN’s fourth biggest importer, Chinese trade statistics.
By the end of last year, China had invested into 65 projects in ASEAN countries, up 25 per cent (equivalent to $225 million) in terms of investment value.
A Vietnamese high-ranking government delegation led by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung left Hanoi today October 30 for the event at the invitation of the invitation of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
PM Dung will participate at the Commemorative Summit Marking the 15th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations in Nanning, hold talks with Wen Jiabao and sign the ASEAN-China joint statement.
The bilateral trade between Vietnam and China is estimated to reach $10.2 billion this year.
(Local news agencies)
Vietnamese
