Chinese Deputy Minister of Commerce, Yi Xiaozhun, has predicted a sharp rise in his country’s investment into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) came into force on January 1, 2010.

Xiaozhun said at a recent official launching of the CAFTA that Chinese companies are increasingly interested in investing abroad amidst global economic upturns.

Both China and ASEAN should fully tap into foreign investments and other resources while intensifying investment in infrastructure in an effort to meet demands for stronger cooperation in trade.

The CAFTA is the world’s largest FTA of developing countries with a population of 1.9 billion and 4.5 trillion USD in trade volume.

The average tariff on goods from the ASEAN countries has been cut to 0.1 percent from 9.8 percent. The six original ASEAN members, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, will slash the average tariff on Chinese goods from 12.8 percent to 0.6 percent.

By 2015, the policy of zero-tariff rate for 90 percent of traded goods is expected to extend between China and four new ASEAN members, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

ASEAN is the fourth largest trade partner of China, following the European Union, the US and Japan. Meanwhile, China has emerged as the second largest partner of Singapore and the leading partner of Malaysia in 2009./.