Trade volume between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) hit 202.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, up 25.9 percent year-on-year, the China-ASEAN Business Council announced here on Wednesday.

 

The two sides originally expected the trade volume to reach the 200 billion U.S. dollar mark in 2010. The early breakthrough showed the huge potential and strong desire for cooperation between China and ASEAN, said the council's deputy secretary general Xu Ningning, at a forum.

 

Specifically, trade volume between China and Indonesia hit 25 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 31.2 percent year-on-year. The volume between China and the Philippines hit 30.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 30.8 percent year-on-year, said Xu without elaborating.

 

The China-ASEAN trade volume first surpassed 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2005.

 

The two sides have reached an agreement to complete a China-ASEAN Free Trade Area before 2010. This will serve as a free trade zone that boasts 1.8 billion consumers, nearly two trillion U.S. dollars of GDP and 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars of trade volume.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2008)