The 8th China-ASEAN Expo kicks off Friday in Naning, capital of Guangxi Autonomous Region in southwest China. [Xinhua]

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday that China will continue to expand imports from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and further enhance the two sides' economic and trade cooperation.

"China is ready to continue expanding imports of competitive products from ASEAN countries and find proper solutions to the problems in the development of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA)," Wen said in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the eighth China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS) in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Autonomous Region in southwest China.

He said China and ASEAN will build the China-ASEAN Plaza in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to serve as an exhibition and marketing platform and logistic base for products from both sides.

Wen hoped ASEAN companies would use that platform to win a bigger share of the Chinese market.

China and ASEAN saw trade surge 37.5 percent year-on-year to 292.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, the year when the two sides established the free trade area, according to the Customs data.

China's imports from ASEAN, mostly mechanical and electrical products, soared 44.8 percent from a year earlier in 2010 while exports to ASEAN rose 30.1 percent, bringing China's trade deficit with ASEAN to more than 30 times the amount of the previous year.

"The CAFTA has increased rather than decreased the international competitiveness of ASEAN, and that ASEAN's capacity to export to China has become stronger rather than weaker," said Wen.

The CAFTA was launched on Jan. 1, 2010, when the average tariff on goods from ASEAN countries to China was cut to 0.1 percent, while the six original ASEAN members (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) slashed the average tariff on Chinese goods from 12.8 percent to 0.6 percent.

Wen pledged to create better conditions for the free flow of commodities, capital and information in the China-ASEAN region.

He also noted that the Chinese government encourages mutual investment by enterprises in China and ASEAN and has promised to build an economic cooperation zone in each ASEAN member country.

China's direct investment in ASEAN countries has grown rapidly and accumulated to 13.5 billion U.S. dollars and direct investment by ASEAN countries in China has totaled 67.3 billion U.S. dollars so far, said Wen.

ASEAN is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

From January to September of this year, ASEAN surpassed Japan to become China's third-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade totaling 267 billion U.S. dollars, up 26.4 percent year-on-year.

China and ASEAN aim to increase annual bilateral trade to 500 billion U.S. dollars by 2015.