Report urges using APEC meeting to enhance trade deal

The APEC Senior Officials' Meeting begins in Ningbo on Thursday, and will conclude on Friday. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

China and Southeast Asian countries can use this year's APEC meeting to promote an upgrade of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, which would further strengthen connectivity and reduce costs, officials and a research report said.

The CAFTA can follow the example of the European Union to enhance trust, coordinate policymaking, and accelerate the free flow of personnel, goods, capital and information to become the engine for regional economic growth, according to a report issued in mid-February by the China Institute for Reform and Development, a Chinese think tank based in Haikou, Hainan province.

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Ambitious APEC

It may take three years to make a breakthrough, and around five years to form a new pattern of the 10+1 economic integration, as the current FTA has laid a good foundation for the upgrade, the report said.

"China should establish a mechanism on the national level to spearhead the upgrade and draft plans to discuss this with ASEAN countries during this year's APEC meeting in

The Chinese capital will host the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November.

A senior Malaysian politician lauded the idea on Thursday at the APEC 2014 First Senior Officials' Meeting in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

"Malaysia sees this as building blocks. You move from one stage to another," said N. Vasudevan, senior director for APEC with Malaysia's Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

"Regional economic integration is a rising trend on the agenda of this year's APEC. We are working toward the direction of trade facilitation with China, which is a very important member of APEC and trading partner in this region."

Vasudevan said that China, as host of this year's APEC meeting as well as being a developing economy, can voice concerns and safeguard interests for other developing countries in the Asia-Pacific.