| China accelerates pace on FTA establishment |
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| Wednesday,January 04,2006 Posted: 21:15 BJT(15 GMT) Xinhuanet |
The past year has witnessed China's readiness to establish free trade areas (FTAs) with various trade partners, said sources with the Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday on its website.
In 2005, China signed an FTA cargo trade agreement with Chile, an agreement on an "early harvest" program with Pakistan for their future FTA establishment, and started an all-round tariff reduction process with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
China has been talking with 27 countries and regions on the establishment of nine FTAs, sources with the Ministry of Commerce said.
Among them, China and the ASEAN witnessed the fastest progress in their FTA construction. Besides, China has also launched FTA negotiations with southern Africa, Latin America and South Asia.
China is also conferring with Gulf countries, New Zealand and Australia about FTA construction. The Chinese mainland has implemented a Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) with Hong Kong and Macao.
In July 2005, the second Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) summit was held in the city of Kunming, where China signed a strategic framework for trade and investment facilitation in the GMS.
In November 2005, the Bangkok Agreement members agreed in Beijing to kick off the third round preferential tariff rates next July and changed the pact name to Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement.
The Bangkok Agreement, established in 1975, serves as a preferential tariff arrangement aimed at promoting intra-regional trade, covering trade between China, the Republic of Korea, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Laos.
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