China calls for deeper cooperation with ASEAN

Beijing (VNA) – China has called for deeper cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to achieve mutual development as the bloc is marking its 50th founding anniversary this year.

The call was made by Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Xu Bu at the seminar “ASEAN at 50: A New Chapter for ASEAN-China Relations” on July 14.

The ambassador said that ASEAN and China should seize the opportunities to elevate the relations to a new height. He said the two sides need to push win-win cooperation in connectivity, production capacity, trade promotion and investment as well as reap benefits from the upgraded protocol of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.

The two economies should combine their strengths and potential to carry out those efforts, aiming at supporting China’s Belt and Road Initiative and ASEAN Vision 2025 in the future, he added.

China is ready to promote and support the growth of sub-regional frameworks such as the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and the East ASEAN Growth Area to help narrow the development gap in the bloc and build the ASEAN Community, the Chinese ambassador stressed.

He believed that the close relationship between ASEAN and China is an inseparable part of their strategic partnership.

At the seminar, ASEAN Deputy Secretary General for Community and Corporate Affairs AKP Mochtan said that enhancing contacts between communities of the two economies is a good idea as it will create a good base for to synergise the goals of the Belt and Road Initiative and ASEAN Vision 2025.

China is currently ASEAN’s largest trade partner while ASEAN is China’s third biggest trade partner. Two-way trade in 2016 stood at 452.2 billion USD.-VNA