The current engagement between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is true partnership, and the ASEAN-China relations are now "more confident, mature and comprehensive," Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said on Tuesday.

 

Arroyo, as the rotating president of the ASEAN, made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the third China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.

 

"They (ASEAN-China relations) are punctuated with substantial and important projects aimed at deepening exchanges in a number of areas. These include economics, trade and investment, and even security," she said.

 

The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (FTA) is one of the most dynamic parts of the comprehensive economic cooperation between the two sides because the ASEAN region represents a market of half a billion people for Chinese exports, and the ASEAN countries could be less dependent on the Western markets as long as the ASEAN-China FTA takes shape, she said.

 

At the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, "investors could enjoy fruitful business-matching meetings, making deals about strategic business partnerships, and therefore participating in an integral part of the larger marketplace of the world," said Arroyo.

 

The Philippines-China relationship is at an all-time high and is one of the most important ties of the Philippines, she noted.

 

The Philippine government has made great efforts to create a comfortable economic environment for foreign investment, and more investment from China is welcomed, particularly in the areas of mining, infrastructure, development, agriculture and fishery, as well as housing, she added.

 

The one-day summit, under the theme "one need, one future," attracted about 1,000 government officials, business people, experts and scholars from both China and the 10 ASEAN countries.

 

Arroyo arrived in Nanning, capital of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Sunday. Besides Tuesday's summit, she also attended the commemorative summit marking the 15th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations, and the third China-ASEAN Expo.

 

Two-way trade volume between China and the Philippines hit US$17.6 billion in 2005, an increase of more than 30 percent from a year earlier, making China the Philippines' fourth largest trading partner.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2006)