Premier Wen Jiabao is expected to meet with leaders of the ASEAN member countries including Thailand's new prime minister during the coming China-ASEAN commemorative summit, which will be held in South China's Nanning at the end of the month.

It will be Surayud Chulanont's first overseas trip since he took the post as interim prime minister of Thailand last week after a military coup on September 19.

During a Thursday meeting with Zhang Jiuhuan, the Chinese ambassador to Bangkok, Surayud expressed his desire to further exchange views on bilateral ties with his Chinese counterpart Wen at the summit.

He also spoke highly of China's position of non-interference in other countries' domestic affairs, saying Thailand will continue to exercise a friendly policy towards China.

According to Tong Xiaoling, a foreign ministry counsellor in charge of Asian affairs, the summit marking the 15th anniversary of China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Dialogue relations is the first of its kind to be held in the country between the leaders of the two sides and will be a great historical event in the China-ASEAN history.

"The leaders will take stock of the developments and successful experiences of the China-ASEAN friendly relationship and chart a course for the future development of relations," Tong said.

The leaders will sign a joint-statement to draw the blueprint of the future development of bilateral ties in the fields of politics, security, economics and culture, she said.

She said the focus of the paper is seen as a reaffirmation of the establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area by 2010, which will not only strengthen the existing friendly ties between the two sides, but also further promote their economic development and expand bilateral trade and co-operation.

Analysts noted that both China and ASEAN will benefit from this free trade zone by sharing profits generated by economic globalization and regional economic integration.

Premier Wen and the other 10 leaders will participate in the opening ceremony of the Third China-ASEAN Expo one day after the commemorative summit.

Statistics showed that two-way trade volume between China and ASEAN member nations reached more than US$130.7 billion last year, up 23 per cent from the previous year.

Source: China Daily