Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has called for balanced China-ASEAN economic development during the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Expo (CAEXPO) forum held in Nanning, China, this month, a Trade Ministry official said.

"We cannot return to the conventional growth. We should be able to create balanced economic development," the ministry`s director general of national export development, Gusmardi Bustami said in his address to the forum, a copy of which was made available on Sunday.

In addition, Indonesia also proposed inclusive and sustainable economic development supported by innovations and sciences, he said.

Addressing the CAEXPO forum, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said both China and ASEAN will always be committed to developing mutually beneficial development pattern to achieve growth beneficial to trade and economic cooperation.

Xi noted that two-way trade between China and ASEAN has grown rapidly by an average of 20 percent per year.

In the early days of China-ASEAN cooperation, the two-way trade reached US$7 billion. The figure jumped to US$362.8 billion in 2011, he said.

China also has become ASEAN`s main investment partner, with two-way investment nearing US$100 billion in July 2012, he said.

Xi also underscored the importance of China`s role in providing the best financial support for ASEAN by setting up China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund and making a soft loan scheme to facilitate economic development in ASEAN member states.

Gusmardi said he warmly welcomed Xi`s statement which he said is relevant to Indonesia`s expectation at the forum, namely to increase the flow of Chinese investment to Indonesia.

He said Chinese investment in Indonesia is still small, reaching US$128.2 million. This compares to Chinese investment in ASEAN which reached US$5.9 billion last year.

ASEAN which groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam is now China`s third biggest trade partner. (S012)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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