Singapore welcomes the establishment of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA), believing that it will help enhance economic cooperation and integration between ASEAN and China as well as Asia's economic integration, Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang told Xinhua lately in an interview.

"The next big story for the world in the coming 10 years will really be the economic integration of Asia, and China-ASEAN Free Trade Area is a very important vehicle to bring about this economic integration," Lim said, adding that such economic integration means "something very special" to Singapore because it will give Singapore a big economic base to grow.

As planned, China and ASEAN will create the world's largest FTA of nearly 2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$2 trillion by 2010.

Lim expressed confidence that the target set by China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to increase their annual trade to US$100 billion by 2005 is within reach.

"Trade has been growing very rapidly between ASEAN and China. I think that ASEAN-China trade amounted to US$79 billion last year, and the US$100 billion target is quite possible this year," Lim said.

Describing the economic relationships between the two countries as "very good," Lim said that China is now Singapore's fifth largest trade partner while Singapore China's seventh largest investor.

The trade volume between the two countries stood at nearly US$20 billion last year and already reached about US$22 billion in the first nine months of this year, he said, adding that Singapore's cumulative contractual foreign direct investment (FDI) in China last year was US$43.5 billion, and the island state now has more than 12,000 projects in China.

Lim believed that there are great potential and opportunities for closer trade and investment relationships between China and ASEAN, and between China and Singapore.

China is growing at very rapidly and "this offers a lot of opportunities for ASEAN countries, including Singapore," he added.

The minister proposed that Singapore and China further strengthen their bilateral cooperation, especially in the field of trade, services and investment.

He noted that Singapore will encourage more companies to invest in China, and at the same time, it will also facilitate Chinese companies setting up operations here and penetrating into other ASEAN markets.

"As China develops and grows, as Chinese companies become bigger and stronger, we'd like to see them using Singapore as a base to trade and operate in the rest of ASEAN," he said.

Lim also hoped that talks on bilateral free trade agreement between Singapore and China should start as soon as possible.

"Singapore welcomes a free trade pact with China, both on the bilateral basis as well as on the regional basis as part of ASEAN," he said.

Lim will lead a 120-member delegation to attend the first China-ASEAN Trade Fair, which is to be held in Nanning, capital of southwest China's Guangxi early next month.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2004)