China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are on track to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with just a number of details remaining to be ironed out, secretary-general of the 10- member organization Ong Keng Yong has said.

The year "2010 is well within our expectations," Ong said on Monday on the sidelines of a luncheon with US business leaders in Singapore.

China and ASEAN have agreed to build a free trade area before 2010 that is expected to create a market for about 1.8 billion people, making it the third-largest such area in the world.

The two sides have completed negotiations on trade in goods and are engaged in talks on investments and services.

"Some services still (need) to be ironed out," Ong said. The negotiations on how the agreement will cover investments between China and ASEAN will hopefully be completed by the end of the year.

The annual two-way trade volume, expanding by over 20 percent a year since 2002, reached more than $160 billion last year.

Analysts say the China-ASEAN FTA process will proceed smoothly despite tough negotiations ahead to loosen trade restrictions on finance and other service industries.

Lu Jianren, a senior researcher with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: "The two sides have made great efforts to be on track to establish an FTA and set a good example of mutually beneficial cooperation for developing countries."

(China Daily July 25, 2007)