The fourth consultation between ASEAN senior economic officials and China's Ministry of Commerce started in the Laotian capital, Vientiane, yesterday, focusing on the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area.

Delegates mainly discussed a progress report on the establishment of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, the draft of the ASEAN-China Trade in Services Agreement, Zhang Shaogang, director of the ministry's International Trade and Economic Affairs Department, and the meeting's co-chairman, said after the consultation.

He added delegates discussed preparations for the upcoming second China-ASEAN Trade Fair slated for mid-October in the Chinese city of Nanning.

Since July 1 when the Agreement on Trade in Goods between China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations was implemented, many Chinese goods have entered ASEAN markets, he said.

Zhang also noted trade will advance into a new chapter in the coming years as more tariffs are to be slashed or eliminated to realize the free trade area by China and ASEAN members Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand by 2010, and by China and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam by 2015 as targeted.

China and ASEAN have seen annual growth of 30-50 percent in trade in recent years, Zhang said, noting that ASEAN became China's fourth-biggest trading partner in the first half of this year with two-way trade reaching nearly US$59.8 billion, up 25 percent against the same period last year.

(Shanghai Daily September 26, 2005)