China should encourage local governments and non-governmental sectors to take an active part in the cooperation between China and ASEAN, said a member of the 10th CPPCC National Committee in BeijingTuesday.
The Framework Agreement on China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation signed in November last year promises luring prospects for the cooperation between China and ASEAN countries, said Ang Keng-Lam, chairman of Kerry Logistics Network Limited, who is attending the first session of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. "Both sides should adopt positive measures to set the interaction in motion and create a win-win situation."
The Framework Agreement on China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation was signed on Nov. 4, 2002 by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), agreeing to open a free-trade zone by 2010.
Ang Keng-Lam, who is a member of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, said the central government should give a free rein to local governments, allowing them to establish closer economic ties with ASEAN nations so as to realize sub-regional free trade, such as a free trade zone among China's Yunnan Province and Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, which may serve as a model for comprehensive cooperation between China and ASEAN countries".
Such cooperation, he noted, can lead to nowhere without the active participation of non-governmental sectors, adding that the central government should attract more Chinese companies with a good credit rating and strong financial resources into economic and trade cooperation projects with ASEAN by offering more preferential policies in taxation, project approval, forex control and entry-exit.
Agriculture is one of the areas where points of cooperation can be easily identified, Ang Keng-Lam said.
In addition, Ang Keng-Lam urged all the Chinese provinces in southwest China to improve their infrastructure so as to facilitate the fast flow of personnel, goods and funds in the initial stage of the free trade zone.
March 12, 2003
Source : Xinhua News Agency
|
