China-ASEAN Agreed on Free Trade Area

China`s Foreign Minister Tang, Jiaxuan announced yesterday that Zhu, Rongji, China`s Premier of State Council, agreed with the ASEAN leaders to establish ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, which will be the largest one in the world.

Minister Tang held a press conference after the China-ASEAN Summit Talks and remarked, ``all the nations agreed to establish free trade area. It will take about 10 years to complete the establishing process.``

Premier Zhu proposed to establish a free trade area at the China-ASEAN summit in Singapore last year to strengthen the ties in the trade and investment fields.

Meanwhile, ASEAN leaders agreed to review the proposal of President Kim Dae-Jung to establish the East Asian Free Trade Area.

ysmo@donga.com