Respected Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

                   Thank you very much, Ms. Luostarinen. I think you have given us an excellent speech. You have drawn a clear outline of ASEAN Free Trade Area for us. With the clear background introduction and the wealth of data, we all have benefited a lot from it. Thank you once again for your excellent speech, Ms. Luostarinen.
As a guest invited by the Chairman, I would like to brief you on the following two points.

I. Relations between China and the ASEAN
China and ASEAN enjoy friendly contacts traditionally. In September 1991, China established diplomatic relations with Brunei, which meant that China had established diplomatic relations with all ASEAN countries. In July of the same year, Qian Qichen, then Chinese Foreign Minister was invited to the 24th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting for the first time, which started the process of dialogue between China and ASEAN. In 1992, China became ASEAN’s negotiation partner. In 1993, the two sides agreed to establish the two Joint Committees on Economic and Trade Cooperation and Scientific and Technological Cooperation respectively. And in July 1994, the two Committees were officially established by the exchange of notes by two sides. In 1996, China and ASEAN further promoted their relationship to a comprehensive dialogue partnership. In 1997, then President Jiang Zemin and leaders of ASEAN issued a Joint Statement on the establishment of good neighbor and mutual trust partnership oriented towards the 21st century between China and ASEAN. From 1999 to 2000, China signed or issued bilateral cooperation plans oriented towards the new century with all ASEAN countries respectively.
The long-time good neighborly and friendly relations between the two sides lay a solid foundation for the development of mutual economic and trade cooperation. Geographically, China and ASEAN countries are close neighbors. They have their own characteristics in resources composition, industrial structure and industrial and agricultural products. Their economies are strongly complimentary to each other and there are great potentials for cooperation. From 1995 to 2002, the bilateral trade volume between China and ASEAN amounted to 55 billion US$, a 32% increase over the previous year. China’s export to ASEAN was 24 billion US$, a 28% increase over the previous year. China’s import from ASEAN was 31 billion US$, a 34% increase over the previous year. At present, ASEAN has been the 5th largest trade partner of China for 10 consecutive years (only after the U.S.A., Hongkong, Japan and the EU), and is the largest trade partner of China among the developing countries. Furthermore, the growth speed of bilateral trade greatly outnumbers those of other main trade partners. On the other hand, China is the 6th largest trade partner of ASEAN. All these prove that China and ASEAN enjoy very good and close relations.

II. The setting up of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and its influences
In November 2001, the 5th “10+1” Summit was held in Brunei, in which the two sides unanimously agreed to establish the free trade area in the coming 10 years. This important decision shows the political desire of leaders of China and ASEAN countries for strengthening good-neighborly cooperative relations. On November 4, 2002, in Phnom Penh of Cambochia, Zhu Rongji, then Chinese Premier and leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries sighed the Framework Agreement on China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, which is a milestone of the cooperation between the two sides. It marks a new historical stage of the economic and trade cooperation between them.
The setting up of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area is scheduled in 2010, but it is only applicable to the 6 ASEAN countries, namely Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The 4 new member countries, i.e. Vietnam, Burma, Laos and Cambochia, which enjoy a 5-years’ grace, will join in by 2015.
After its establishment, an economic region with 1.7 billion consumers, about 1.8 trillion US$ GDP and 1.2 trillion US$ trade volume will take shape. This makes it the largest free trade area in terms of population in the world.
Its establishment will facilitate the further development of China’s and ASEAN’s economies and the bilateral economic relations. It will increase the trade volumes between the two sides and help create a peaceful, stable and cooperative environment in this region. Foreign direct investment will be increased. The industrial structures of both sides will be adjusted. And the formulation of a large unified market will be enhanced. Hence, it will strengthen the competitiveness of this region and promote the economic unification in East Asia. According to the preliminary estimation by the expert group, the establishment of the free trade area will play an active role in the increase of China and ASEAN countries’ GDP. As a result, ASEAN countries’ GDP will rise nearly by 1% or 5.4 billion US$. China’s GDP will rise by 0.3% or 2.2 billion US$. In addition, China’s export to ASEAN will rise by 55%.
With the trade and investment liberalization and the extensive economic and technological cooperation, enterprises’ of both sides will enhance their production capability, production level and products competiveness in the international market.

                     In short, we firmly believe that the establishment of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area conforms to the fundamental interests of both sides. It will certainly have an important and far-reaching impact on the development of China’s and ASEAN’s economies.
Thank you!