Beijing，February 9, 2023（AseanAll）— The first round consultations of Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) negotiations started on February 7, according to the Ministry of Commerce of China .

The Ministry of Commerce of China said that relevant authorities of China and the ASEAN countries, as well as officials from the ASEAN Secretariat, attended the meeting via video link.

The two sides held in-depth discussions on the procedural rules, organizational arrangements and work plans of the negotiations, and worked out a timetable and road map for follow-up negotiations.

In November 2022, China and ASEAN jointly announced the official launch of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 negotiation. The two sides agreed that the negotiations would cover the fields including trade in goods, investment, digital and green economy, so as to build a more inclusive, modern, comprehensive and mutually beneficial China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.

Over the years, China and ASEAN have enjoyed close economic and trade exchanges. China has become the largest trading partner of ASEAN for many consecutive years, and ASEAN has now become the largest trading partner of China. According to Chinese statistics, the import and export scale between China and ASEAN will reach 6.52 trillion yuan in 2022, up 15% year on year. Among them, China's exports to ASEAN increased by 21.7% year on year, and its imports from ASEAN increased by 6.8%.