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China-ASEAN trade speeds up

Monday, 22 October 2007


NANNING, Oct. 21 (Xinhua): China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have seen fast growth in bilateral trade with the volume being expected to reach 190 billion US dollars this year.
"The figure is expected to top 200 billion US dollars in 2008, two years earlier than our expectation," said Zhang Xiaoqin, secretary general of China-ASEAN Expo Secretariat.
China and ASEAN are now each other's fourth largest trading partners. Zhang said, the China-ASEAN trade volume was 160.8 billion U. S. dollars last year, while in the first eight months this year, the bilateral trade hit 127.95 billion US dollars.
Meanwhile, China and the 10 ASEAN members are speeding up the tariff reduction to facilitate the establishment of China- ASEAN free trade zone.
China's average tariff on ASEAN countries' goods was slashed from 9.9 per cent to 5.8 per cent now and will continue to drop to 2.4 per cent in 2009, and finally in 2010, which is the scheduled time for the establishment of the free trade zone, 93 per cent of products from ASEAN countries will be tariff-free.
By 2010, China will establish free trade zone with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, while Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar can enjoy five more years of transition.