HUA HIN, Thailand: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states started a regular meeting here Saturday in a bid to boost regional cooperation amid the global financial crisis and to promote common development.

"China has become an indispensable pillar of political and economic stability in this region," Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said at the beginning of the meeting.

Vejjajiva hailed China's peaceful rise and its policy of good-neighborliness, saying it promoted regional cooperation and contributed to the development of the world community.

China is ASEAN's fourth largest trading and investment partner, with its trade with ASEAN accounting for 10.6 percent of the bloc's total. Its investment in ASEAN member states soared by 125 percent year-on-year to reach $2.18 billion in 2008.

In the last six years, China-ASEAN trade surged by more than three folds, Vejjajiva said, noting the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA), which is expected to be launched next year, will be more beneficial to both sides.

The China-ASEAN free trade area will be the world's largest with a combined population of 1.9 billion and the world's third largest in terms of trade volume.

In the context of the global financial crisis, ASEAN's trade with the West dropped but the China-ASEAN FTA and China's policy on using its currency in trade "will promote regional trade and economic activities," Vejjajiva added.

Wen arrived at the central Thai seaside resort late on Friday to attend a series of meeting related to the ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand.

Earlier in the day, the Chinese premier met his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh to discuss bilateral ties and issues of common concern. "We have reached important consensus on promoting bilateral ties, and I believe that our two countries could maintain a good relationship in the future, which conforms with the interests of the two countries and I have confidence about that," Wen said at the beginning of the talks.

Singh, in his turn, recalled his recent meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Russia and the United States, noting that the Chinese people is a great nation. "We share with the Chinese people their pride of success," he said.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit.