Brunei announced its recognition of China's market economy status (MES) in a joint communique released Wednesday during Sultan of Brunei Haji Hassanal Bolkiah's visit to China.

The two sides pledged to enhance trade exchange and expand mutual investment to make bilateral trade volume reach one billion US dollars by 2010.

According to Chinese statistics, China-Brunei trade totaled 217 million US dollars in the first seven months of 2004.

The communique says a memorandum on trade, investment and economic cooperation would be conducive to strengthening cooperation in agriculture, energy, tourism, transportation, telecommunication and infrastructure.

New Zealand, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of the Congo, South Africa, Benin, Togo and the ASEAN nations have recognized China's complete market economy status.