The governments of China and the ASEAN countries have agreed on general topics of service trade and mutual investment in the region, ASEAN General Secretary Ong Keng Yong said Friday.

"It is important that all governments have decided to head towards the same destination, and next we'll focus on specific subjects sector after sector,"he said when meeting reporters during the on-going China-ASEAN (the Association of South East Asia Nations) Expo.

"Now we're in deep in the swimming pool, "he said. " We know how to swim but don't know how to get out the pool. We are holding on to each other to struggle out together."

According to Ong Keng Yong, trade in services is much more complicated than trade of goods. With concrete merchandise, people across nations can easily understand what they are talking about during business deals. With services, however, people in one country may not be clear about what a foreign doctor, or a designer, can really do.

"It takes a lot of time to do definition work before any agreements can be reached," he said, noting that not only governments, but also professionals from each sector would be involved during the process.

For investment, he said, the biggest problem lies in the administration of capital flows among nations, especially capital flow of private companies and small and medium-sized firms. Each nation has different rules on this issue.

"We should first boost the trade of goods to a level where we can comfortably do business with each other, and then expand our trade to other fields like tourism and technology exchanges. "

Source: Xinhua