Singapore welcomes the establishment of China-ASEAN Free Trade
Area (FTA), believing that it will help enhance economic
cooperation and integration between ASEAN and China as well as
Asia's economic integration, Singapore's Minister for Trade and
Industry Lim Hng Kiang told Xinhua lately in an interview.
"The next big story for the world in the coming 10 years will
really be the economic integration of Asia, and China-ASEAN Free
Trade Area is a very important vehicle to bring about this economic
integration," Lim said, adding that such economic integration means
"something very special" to Singapore because it will give
Singapore a big economic base to grow.
As planned, China and ASEAN will create the world's largest FTA
of nearly 2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product
(GDP) of more than US$2 trillion by 2010.
Lim expressed confidence that the target set by China and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to increase their
annual trade to US$100 billion by 2005 is within reach.
"Trade has been growing very rapidly between ASEAN and China. I
think that ASEAN-China trade amounted to US$79 billion last year,
and the US$100 billion target is quite possible this year," Lim
said.
Describing the economic relationships between the two countries
as "very good," Lim said that China is now Singapore's fifth
largest trade partner while Singapore China's seventh largest
investor.
The trade volume between the two countries stood at nearly US$20
billion last year and already reached about US$22 billion in the
first nine months of this year, he said, adding that Singapore's
cumulative contractual foreign direct investment (FDI) in China
last year was US$43.5 billion, and the island state now has more
than 12,000 projects in China.
Lim believed that there are great potential and opportunities
for closer trade and investment relationships between China and
ASEAN, and between China and Singapore.
China is growing at very rapidly and "this offers a lot of
opportunities for ASEAN countries, including Singapore," he
added.
The minister proposed that Singapore and China further
strengthen their bilateral cooperation, especially in the field of
trade, services and investment.
He noted that Singapore will encourage more companies to invest
in China, and at the same time, it will also facilitate Chinese
companies setting up operations here and penetrating into other
ASEAN markets.
"As China develops and grows, as Chinese companies become bigger
and stronger, we'd like to see them using Singapore as a base to
trade and operate in the rest of ASEAN," he said.
Lim also hoped that talks on bilateral free trade agreement
between Singapore and China should start as soon as possible.
"Singapore welcomes a free trade pact with China, both on the
bilateral basis as well as on the regional basis as part of ASEAN,"
he said.
Lim will lead a 120-member delegation to attend the first
China-ASEAN Trade Fair, which is to be held in Nanning, capital of
southwest China's Guangxi
early next month.
(Xinhua News Agency October 30,
2004)