Interview: Economic ties between ASEAN, China to grow further: Singapore's minister

By Gao Chuan

SINGAPROE, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The economic relationship between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China is likely to grow and strengthen further, as Asia continues on the path of strong economic growth, Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang has said.

In an exclusive written interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, Lim said that ASEAN enjoys a strong economic relationship with China.

China is ASEAN's fourth largest trading and investment partner, whose trade with ASEAN accounts for 10.6 percent of ASEAN's total trade, Lim said.

In 2007, ASEAN's imports from China rose to 93.2 billion U.S. dollars and trade between ASEAN and China almost tripled from 59.6billion U.S. dollars in 2003 to 171.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2007,according to Lim.

He said that the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and China serves as a roadmap for the realization of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area by 2010.

"This was the first FTA for both ASEAN and China, which shows the historical significance of ASEAN-China economic relations," he noted.

The two sides have signed the Trade in Goods (TIG) Agreement in2004, the Trade in Services (TIS) Agreement in 2007, and the ASEAN-China FTA was completed with the signing of the Investment Agreement this August.

ASEAN and China have also established a Working Group on Economic Cooperation to discuss FTA-related cooperation projects. Officials have agreed to further explore two proposed capacity building projects for officials from ASEAN and China, namely, a workshop on implementation of the ACFTA to be held in Kunming, China, and a workshop on customs procedures and trade compliance.

"We look forward to the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Intellectual Property (IP) and Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures (STRACAP) at the upcoming ASEAN-China Summit," Lim said.