Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the tenth China-ASEAN Expo.

China and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have the ability to build a "diamond decade," Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said at the opening ceremony of the tenth China-ASEAN Expo.

The past ten years have witnessed a golden decade of China-ASEAN cooperation, with bilateral trade volume increasing fivefold and the scale of cross-investment expanding threefold, Li said in his keynote speech.

China and ASEAN member countries have similar goals and development tasks, and it will unleash great energy by promoting China-ASEAN economic cooperation, the premier said.

Upgrading economic co-op

Li raised a couple of proposals on cooperation, calling for an "upgraded version" of the free trade area (FTA) between China and ASEAN, further cooperation in areas of transportation, telecommunications and energy, as well as to enhance the economic and financial cooperation.

China and ASEAN could have discussions about further lowering tariffs, cutting non-tariff measures, holding talks on a new round of service trade commitments, and promoting openness in the area of investment, Li said.

China is willing to sign long-term trade agreements with ASEAN members on agricultural products and expand imports from ASEAN, Li said, adding that China expects the bilateral trade volume to hit 1 trillion U.S. dollars by 2020.

China is also willing to join hands with ASEAN to advance talks of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and discuss exchanges and interactions with frameworks including Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement.

The expo opened Tuesday in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and will run until Friday.

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