China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) on Jan. 1, 2010, with an aim to boost trade cooperation and two-way investment between China and the 10 ASEAN nations.
Following are some facts and figures on the CAFTA:
Members:
China and 10 ASEAN nations -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Population:
584 million people in 10 ASEAN countries plus 1.3 billion in China, accounting for one third of the world's population.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP):
About 6 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for one ninth of the world's total GDP.
Trade volume:
About 4.5 trillion U.S. dollars, the world's third largest after the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Closer trade relations:
China-ASEAN trade grew by 24.2 percent annually from 2003 to 2008. Bilateral trade hit 231 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, up from 78.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2003 and 6.3 billion U.S. dollars in 1991.
China is currently the third largest trade partner of ASEAN; ASEAN is the fourth largest trade partner of China.
Growing investment relations:
China's direct investment in ASEAN countries was 2.18 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, up from 230 million U.S. dollars in 2003; ASEAN's actual investment in China totaled 5.46 billion U.S. dollars, up from 2.93 billion U.S. dollars in 2003.
Lowered tariffs in the CAFTA:
In the CAFTA, the average tariff on goods from the ASEAN countries to China is cut down to 0.1 percent from 9.8 percent. The six original ASEAN members, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, will slash the average tariff on Chinese goods from 12.8 percent to 0.6 percent.
By 2015, the policy of zero-tariff rate for 90 percent of traded goods is expected to extend between China and the four new ASEAN members, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Broader market access to services sectors:
Under the China-ASEAN free trade pact, the two sides will offer preferential access to each other's services market, in areas such as business services and tourism.
(Source: Xinhua)