Negotiations on an upgraded Free Trade Area (FTA) including China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to be concluded by the end of the year, Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Yan told a press conference on Wednesday.
The talks are focusing on primary sectors such as investment, economic cooperation, and trade in goods and services, Gao said, adding that the negotiations have progressed since they began last August.
The China-ASEAN FTA can be regarded as the most influential FTA that China is involved in, and its improved version is expected to expand bilateral trade, Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
The upgraded version of the FTA was proposed by Premier Li Keqiang in 2013 in a bid to advance bilateral economic and trade cooperation.
As the "One Belt, One Road" initiative has become China's most important channel for long-term international trade and development, the China-ASEAN FTA should keep closely in line with it to ensure a wider opening-up and expansion of bilateral trade, Bai said.
It is possible that tariffs will be further reduced under the FTA, Bai added.
Bilateral trade is expected to reach $1 trillion before the end of 2020 as a result of the improved China-ASEAN FTA, Gao noted.
ASEAN-China trade has expanded rapidly, and it reached $480.1 billion in 2014, up 8.23 percent. In the first half of this year, bilateral trade approached $224.38 billion, a rise of 1.6 percent year-on-year. China is the largest trading partner of the bloc, while the association is the third-largest trading partner of China, Gao said.
Gao stressed that the China-ASEAN Expo, which will hold its 12th session from September 18-21, has established a new, comprehensive model of cooperation incorporating friendly exchanges and economic and trade collaboration.
Talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership have also achieved sound progress, according to Gao.
