China has said it will finish negotiations on upgrading the China-ASEAN Free Trade Areacalled CAFTA by the end of this year, said Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli on Friday.
He said economic and trade cooperation is the base and guide of the construction of the Beltand Road Initiative.
"China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will further deepen economic andtrade cooperation and mutually create an upgraded version of CAFTA," Zhang said at theopening ceremony of the 12th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomousregion.
This has been excerpted from a 19 September 2015 news item by China Daily and is available in its entirety at: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2015-09/19/content_21923409.htm