Senior officials from China and the ASEAN countries gathered in Nanning, China to discuss the development of Version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) and the need to progressively enhance regional open cooperation.
The Version 3.0 FTA will cover sectors such as the digital economy, green economy and supply chain connectivity.
Talks on Version 3.0 started in November 2022 and the latest discussions were held on Sunday at the thematic side event of the ongoing China-ASEAN Expo under the theme of “institutional opening-up for new regional economic growth”.
It was hosted by China’s Ministry of Commerce and the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Chinese delegation included Li Fei, Vice Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Li Ning, Secretary of the Guangxi Party Committee, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Director of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of the Autonomous Region.
Among those present at the event were representatives of relevant government departments in China, ASEAN countries, Timor-Leste, heads of Chinese consulates in ASEAN countries and ASEAN countries’ consulates in China, as well as heads of international organisations.
Heads of financial, commercial, regulatory, and standardisation institutions, as well as specialists and academics also participated in the event.
Svay Nakry, an Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce represented Minster of Commerce Cham Nimul.
According to the ministry, involvement in promoting shared norms of Chinese-ASEAN trade laws was the main emphasis of the meetings.
It added that the event would support information sharing and the mutual recognition of technological norms for the integration of the trade corridor and China-ASEAN industrial technology standards.
Participants discussed the need to steadily expand regional open cooperation on rules, regulations, management, standards, business and other open institutional cooperation in the new era, deepen the results of institutional openness, create an open high-energy level platform, and boost the construction of the Version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN FTA, and promote the construction of a new pattern of regional development and an open world economy.
At the meeting, the unveiling ceremony of the “ASEAN National Standardisation Cooperation and Exchange Centre” was held.
The centre is committed to strengthening standardisation research and cooperation and exchanges with ASEAN countries, building channels for China-ASEAN standardisation information connectivity and sharing, and establishing mechanisms of joint training and two-way exchanges of international standardisation talents to promote greater, wider, and deeper open cooperation between China and ASEAN.
In his opening remarks, ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn affirmed the important achievements China-ASEAN Expo made in promoting and facilitating economic cooperation in trade, investment, tourism and other fields between ASEAN and China over the past 20 years.
Kim Hourn gave the China-ASEAN Expo Secretariat a certificate of praise in recognition of their efforts in fostering close commercial ties between ASEAN and China.
Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Li Fei was quoted by Global Times that China will reasonably reduce the negative list for foreign investment access with other measures to elevate the liberalisation and facilitation of trade and investment.
Li Fei said China was willing to work with ASEAN to accelerate negotiations for Version 3.0 China-ASEAN FTA and strive to reach an early conclusion, while jointly implementing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and starting the accession process for new members soon.
This thematic side event focused on the steady expansion of institutional openness in regional rules, regulations, management, standards and other areas in the new era with a new landscape, which is conducive to promoting all parties in the region to benchmark against international trade and investment rules and to unite in deepening institutional openness.
It strengthened the consensus on institutional open development in the context of the accelerated construction of Version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN FTA and the all-round implementation of the RCEP, enhanced the level of regional economic integration, and promoted the construction of a new pattern of China-ASEAN open cooperation, to better benefit the people of ASEAN countries.
In recent years, under the background of the accelerated construction of the China-ASEAN FTA and the all-round implementation of the RCEP, the economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN has been upgraded and the status of each other’s largest trading partners has been continuously consolidated with ASEAN being China’s largest trading partner for three consecutive years, and China being ASEAN’s largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years.
Economic and trade exchanges between Guangxi and ASEAN keep growing, and cooperation and exchanges continue to deepen. By 2022, ASEAN has maintained its status as Guangxi’s largest trading partner for 23 consecutive years.
From January to July, Guangxi’s import and export volume to ASEAN was $25.79 billion with an increase of 71.6%, according to a statement released by China after the event.
Source: Khmer Times
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<p>Time: 2024 By: Ministry of Industry and Trade</p>
