China and ASEAN countries should promote free trade in goods and services in order to move the regional and global economy forward, a Chinese official said on October 20.

Vice Minister Li Kenong from China Customs was speaking at the China-ASEAN Customs-Trade Cooperation Forum at the 6th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and the 6th China-ASEAN Business & Investment Summit (CABIS) in Nanning, Guangxi.

Li said free trade was a pre-requisite of moving the economy forward. "Free trade can create strong intra-regional trade and create the opportunity for Asia to come up with its own common currency to settle trade transactions," he said.

China Customs, following a strategy of "emphasizing one foundation and two priorities", will promote cooperation between China and ASEAN countries, according to its official website.

The foundation refers to the memorandum of understanding, which constitutes the legal basis and the foundation for the mutual cooperation. Early signing will be beneficial to the further collaboration, trade facilitation and sustained, healthy development of the economic and trade relationship between the two sides, according to China Customs.

Li said his organization will work closely with the Customs Affairs Coordination Committee of ASEAN and strive to reach consensus with its counterparts.

The two priorities are cooperation in trade facilitation and capacity building.

Li said China Customs will strive to promote cooperation in the fields of mutual recognition of customs controls, mutual assistance on enforcement and information exchange within the Framework of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA).

China Customs, while inspecting the goods carefully, wants to provide more efficient services to the enterprises and help them get access to each other's markets. The Customs department will implement a 3-5 year action plan centered on capacity building, to make cooperation more effective.

"We will increase financial inputs while improving cost-effectiveness, and give greater support to the various customs administrations of ASEAN," Li said. "We will also continue to hold training courses and symposiums which are with special features and highly needed."

Bilateral trade volume has grown three folds, from US$59 billion in 2003 to US$112 billion last year, since the two sides started to build CAFTA six years ago, according to official figures.

CAFTA, which will be formally established on January 1, 2010, will cover a population of 1.9 billion and conduct a zero-tariff policy on 90 percent of products traded between China and ASEAN.