China hopes Indonesia will play active role in FTA talks

Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai said in Beijing Monday that China hopes Indonesia will play an active part in talks on building China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) free trade area.

Bo told Rini Suwandi, minister of trade and industry of Indonesia, that as a major member of the ASEAN, Indonesia can contribute to the negotiations.

The Indonesian minister is currently in Beijing for the Indonesian Solo Exhibition that opened here Monday. More than 80 Indonesian companies attended the exhibition featuring trade, tourism and investment.

Suwandi said China achieved remarkable economic growth over the years and that Indonesia should strengthen cooperation with China with the aim of mutually beneficial cooperation.

She told Bo that she believes Indonesia-China trade will grow higher and that the trade volume between ASEAN and China will also report new growth.

Chinese statistics show that the trade between China and Indonesia reached 10.2 billion US dollars last year, up 29 percent. But Indonesian figures show that its exports to China accounted for only 1.25 percent of China's total imports.

Just 43,000 Chinese tourists went to Indonesia last year, accounting for only 0.9 percent of the 4.47 million international tourists that Indonesia received.

China and the ASEAN member nations decided in 2002 to build a free trade area before the year 2010. Upon completion, it will be the one of largest free trade areas of the world, with approximately two billion population and trade volume hitting 1.2 trillion US dollars.

Suwandi said she strongly supports the building of an ASEAN-China free trade area, and that she appreciates the flexibility and understanding that China is demonstrating in the talks.

She stressed that Indonesia will also play its due part in the ASEAN-China talks.

In 2003, China-ASEAN trade volume reached 78.26 billion US dollars, up 42.9 percent. The ASEAN as a whole was China's fifth largest export market and fourth importing market.

Source: Xinhua