On June 25, the 16th meeting of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Joint Committee was held in Kunming. Yu Benlin, director of the International Department of the Ministry of Commerce, presided over the meeting and delivered a speech. The two sides jointly reviewed the effectiveness of the implementation of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, actively resolved issues related to the implementation of the agreement, and exchanged in-depth views on issues such as optimizing the working mechanism of the Joint Committee.

　　The meeting fully affirmed the effect of the implementation of the agreement, and believed that the high-quality implementation of the agreement has shown strong resilience and vitality in bilateral economic and trade relations, bringing tangible benefits to the enterprises and people of both sides, and agreed to work together to better play the role of the joint committee, Further promote the high-quality implementation of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and create more benefits for enterprises and people in the region.

　　Under the promotion of various policies in the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the bilateral trade between China and ASEAN has increased from US$78.3 billion in 2003 to US$975.3 billion in 2022, an increase of 12.45 times. Up to now, China has maintained the status of ASEAN's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years; the two sides have been each other's largest trading partner for 3 consecutive years.