Full text of Vice Premier Wang Qishan at China-ASEAN Business and Investment Sum

Governments of China and ASEAN countries all give high priority to developing friendly relations and mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two sides. Since the First China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS) in 2004, our two sides have made great efforts to advance the building of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area. We have signed and put into effect the agreements on trade in goods and services, lowered tariff duties and expanded market access, deepened sub-regional economic cooperation in the Greater Mekong River Basin and East ASEAN Growth Area, and promoted trade and investment facilitation. The trade volume between China and ASEAN increased from 105.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2004 to 202.5 billion dollars in 2007, attaining the trade target of 200 billion dollars set by our leaders three years ahead of schedule. During the first nine months of this year, our two-way trade volume reached 180.4 billion dollars, up by 23% over the same period of last year and making China and ASEAN each other's fourth largest trading partner. Our mutual investment is expanding. While ASEAN makes considerable amount of investment in China, the investment of Chinese businesses in ASEAN is growing rapidly. With all the 10 ASEAN countries becoming tourist destinations of Chinese citizens, mutual visits between our people have become even more frequent. As a result, China-ASEAN cooperation in various fields has shown good momentum of growth featuring equality, mutual trust, mutual benefit and win-win progress.