The Sixth Meeting of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Joint Committee and the First Round of Upgrading Negotiations of the China-ASEAN FTA was held in Hanoi, Vietnam, on September 23-24. The Chinese delegation composed of the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, the General Administration of Customs and the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the delegations from 10 ASEAN countries attended the meeting and held negotiations.

During this conference, both sides focused on discussing the working arrangements of upgrading negotiations of the China-ASEAN FTA, held meetings of four working teams of investment, economic cooperation, rules of origin and customs procedures and trade facilitation and exchanged views on specific fields. It was decided that the seventh meeting of the Joint Committee and the second round of upgrading negotiations will be held at the beginning of 2015 in China.

Both sides reached consensus on the working plan of upgrading negotiations and achieved positive progress in many fields after two days’ negotiations.

Upgrading the China-ASEAN FTA was an important initiative proposed by Premier Li Keqiang during the China-ASEAN Leadership Summit in October 2013. After consultations between the two sides, the China-ASEAN Economic and Trade Ministers’ Meeting passed element documents of China-ASEAN FTA Upgrading Negotiations and officially announced the launch of upgrading negotiations.