ASEAN vows to strengthen ties with China

NAY PYI TAW - Foreign Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reiterated commitment on Sunday to further strengthen ASEAN-China relationship by enhancing mutual trust and confidence and promoting cooperation in the political-security, economic, and social-cultural areas.

The ASEAN foreign ministers reaffirmed the commitment in their joint communique issued on the final day of their 47th AMM meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, chaired by Myanmar.

ASEAN looks forward to working closely with China to further strengthen the ASEAN-China strategic partnership, the communique said.

The foreign ministers reiterated the importance of effective utilization of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) for ASEAN and China to be able to achieve the targets of two-way trade volume of 500 billion US dollars by 2015 and one trillion US dollars by 2020, as well as two-way investment of 150 billion US dollars in the next six years.

Regarding the cultural cooperation, the ministers are looking forward to future activities to promote people-to-people exchanges and cooperation in relevant fields as well as supporting the ASEAN- China Plan of Action on Culture Cooperation.

The foreign ministers noted with satisfaction the progress in the implementation of the 2011-2015 Plan of Action (POA) to implement the Joint Declaration on the ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity.

The ministers welcome the First Country Coordinators Meeting of the Network of ASEAN-China Think-Tanks (NACT CCM) which was held on 3 July 2014 in Beijing and looked forward to an increase in academic exchanges between ASEAN and China.

The three-day 47th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting was held from Friday to Sunday under the theme "Moving forward in Unity to a Peaceful and Prosperous Community".

ASEAN comprises 10 member countries -- Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.