| China and ASEAN Signed the Service Trade Agreement |
| Tuesday,January 16,2007 Posted: 09:46 BJT(0146 GMT) MOFCOM |
In Jan. 14, 2007, under the witness of Premier Wen Jiabao and leaders of 10 ASEAN countries, China and 10 ASEAN countries signed the Service Trade Agreement in Cebu, Philippine. Service Trade was one of the important parts of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area. Leaders of China and ASEAN signed the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation in Nov. 2002, deciding to start the negotiation of service trade after the establishment of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area in 2010. After several rounds of negotiations, the two parties reached a consensus on Service Trade Agreement and the first batch of tables of specific goods with reduced and eliminated tariffs promised by China and ASEAN 10 countries. The signed Service Trade Agreement was legal instruments regulating opening-up of service trade markets of China and ASEAN countries and disposing issues concerning service trade. The Agreement stipulated the obligations and rights of the two parties to launch service trade under the Framework of China-ASEAN FTA, and meanwhile, included the first batch of tables of specific goods with reduced and eliminated tariffs promised by China and ASEAN countries to open up the service trade market. According to the Agreement, China made a commitment to open up new markets to ASEAN countries in 26 branches of 5 service areas on the basis of original WTO commitments which were construction, environmental protection, transportation, sports and commerce. On the other hand, ASEAN gave a promise to open their markets to China in finance, telecommunication, education, tourism, construction and medical treatment. The above-said commitments were made on the basis of characters and concrete needs of China and ASEAN countries in service industry, mainly including further opening-up of the involved areas, permission of establishment of foreign funded enterprises or cooperative enterprises in the other party and relief of restrictions on stock share to set up companies. The Agreement would come into effect on July 1, 2007 after the procedure of examination and approval of domestic laws. According to the stipulation of the Agreement, within the validity of one year, the two parties would negotiate on the issue of market opening-up of the second batch of service areas so as to further push forward China-ASEAN service trade liberalization. China-ASEAN Service Trade Agreement was the first agreement on service trade signed by China with other countries under the FTA framework, and also another important progress in the process of China-ASEAN FTA construction after Agreements on Trade in Goods. The signing of the Service Trade Agreement would strongly push forward the economic integration between China and ASEAN countries and further promote the opening-up and development of the two parties in service area, and laid a firm foundation for the all-round establishment of China-ASEAN FTA in 2010 on schedule. (Source: Network Center of MOFCOM) |
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