China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed two protocols to further their cooperation here Saturday.

Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai and economic and trade ministers from ASEAN member countries signed the documents.

They also held consultations on issues concerning the China- ASEAN Free Trade Area.

The two documents are the Second Protocol to amend the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Between China and ASEAN and the Protocol to amend the Agreement on Trade in Goods of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.

The protocols have mainly solved certain remaining problems by amending the two agreements. They include determining and revising the lists of specially designated early-harvest products between China and the Philippines and between China and Indonesia, and the trade in goods agreement between China and Vietnam.

The supplementary agreements are conducive to the smooth implementation of the China-ASEAN agreement on trade in goods of their free trade area and to the development and perfection of the building of the free trade area, official sources present at the signing ceremony said.

After the signing of the documents, Chinese Commerce Minister Bo said the signing shows friendship and mutual trust between the two sides and the great importance they have attached to the China- ASEAN Free Trade Area.

The supplementary documents will help increase the solid foundation for economic and trade cooperation between the two sides, which will be comprehensive, ever-lasting and of win-win nature, Bo said.

The Chinese side is striving to implement the various economic and trade agreements signed between leaders of China and ASEAN member countries during the past years, he added.

Economic and trade ministers from ASEAN countries said the signing of the two documents is the major achievement of the current economic ministerial meeting between ASEAN and China. The ASEAN member countries are willing to join hands with China in promoting the building of their free trade area.

ASEAN, formed in 1967, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Source: Xinhua