China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are
on track to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with just a number of
details remaining to be ironed out, secretary-general of the 10-
member organization Ong Keng Yong has said.
The year "2010 is well within our expectations," Ong said on
Monday on the sidelines of a luncheon with US business leaders in
Singapore.
China and ASEAN have agreed to build a free trade area before
2010 that is expected to create a market for about 1.8 billion
people, making it the third-largest such area in the world.
The two sides have completed negotiations on trade in goods and
are engaged in talks on investments and services.
"Some services still (need) to be ironed out," Ong said. The
negotiations on how the agreement will cover investments between
China and ASEAN will hopefully be completed by the end of the
year.
The annual two-way trade volume, expanding by over 20 percent a
year since 2002, reached more than $160 billion last year.
Analysts say the China-ASEAN FTA process will proceed smoothly
despite tough negotiations ahead to loosen trade restrictions on
finance and other service industries.
Lu Jianren, a senior researcher with Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, said: "The two sides have made great efforts to be on
track to establish an FTA and set a good example of mutually
beneficial cooperation for developing countries."
(China Daily July 25, 2007)
