China and ten ASEAN countries have fully completed negotiations on the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 version

On May 21st, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that the China ASEAN Economic and Trade Ministers' Special Meeting was held online on May 20th, and the two sides' economic and trade ministers jointly announced the comprehensive completion of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 negotiations.

The 3.0 version negotiations were launched in November 2022, and after nearly two years and nine rounds of formal negotiations, they were substantially concluded in October 2024. Under the full coordination and joint promotion of the economic and trade ministers of various countries, the two sides have fully completed the negotiations and taken a crucial step towards the goal of signing the upgrade agreement.

The 3.0 version will make a strong voice in maintaining free trade and open cooperation. China and ASEAN are each other's largest trading partners and important investment partners, both of whom are firm supporters of economic globalization and multilateralism. The construction of version 3.0, as a priority for bilateral economic and trade cooperation, is a landmark achievement for both sides to jointly maintain and deepen free trade. In the face of major challenges in global economic and trade, the comprehensive completion of negotiations by both sides conforms to the trend of world development, demonstrates the strong vitality of free trade and open cooperation, injects greater certainty into regional and global trade, and plays a leading and exemplary role in promoting openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation among countries.

Version 3.0 will create an inclusive, modern, comprehensive, and mutually beneficial free trade agreement. The 3.0 version includes 9 new chapters, including Digital Economy, Green Economy, Supply Chain Interconnection, Standard Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures, Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Competition and Consumer Protection, Small and Medium sized Enterprises, and Economic and Technological Cooperation. It is beneficial for both sides to promote wider and deeper regional economic integration in the new situation, and will effectively promote the deep integration of the production and supply chains of both sides, which has important pioneering significance.

Version 3.0 will effectively promote the construction of a China ASEAN community with a shared future. As two major developing economies, China and ASEAN will jointly expand mutual openness, comprehensively expand cooperation in emerging fields and new quality productive forces through the construction of the Free Trade Zone 3.0. This will provide important institutional guarantees for promoting the construction of a super large market between China and ASEAN, and provide lasting impetus for promoting the construction of the China ASEAN community of shared destiny and promoting common prosperity and development between the two sides.

Next, both sides will actively promote their respective domestic signing and approval procedures, and push for the official signing of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol before the end of the year.