At the meeting, both ASEAN and Chinese sides spoke highly of the positive outcomes of China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement for the people and enterprises, especially the progress made since the implementation of relevant Upgrade Protocol, and discussed the implemention issues and future work plans, along with extensive exchanges on the practices and experience in trade facilitation and e-commerce. Before and during the meeting, both sides also held consultations concerning rules of origin, economic and technological cooperation, regulations on standards and technologies, conformity assessment procedures, sanitation and phytosanitary measures, making positive achievements too. Moreover, both sides agreed to further bilateral cooperation under the framework of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA), making good use of preferential policies so as to push bilateral economic cooperation to a higher level.

The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, as China’s first and largest free trade area with foreign counterparts, has made substantial achievements since its launch in 2010. When the Upgrade Protocol took effect on July 1, 2016, the bilateral economic cooperation stepped into a period of fast development. At present, China is ASEAN’s largest trading partner while ASEAN is China’s third-largest one. In short, this Free Trade Agreement serves as an important foundation for the consolidation and development of China-ASEAN strategic partnership.