JAKARTA, Nov. 11 -- China has been actively involved through various projects and remains a key partner in ASEAN development, Indonesian Foreign Ministry's Director for ASEAN Economic Cooperation Ina Hagniningtyas Krisnamurthi said.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Monday, Ina, who is in charge of trade, economy and investment cooperation between Indonesia and ASEAN, said China is expected to invest more in the ASEAN connectivity and infrastructure projects which will bring benefit and prosperity to the ASEAN people.

Ina said ASEAN and China have a growing complementary especially in the trade and China will remain one of the most important partners in the development of ASEAN.

Although growth in China and ASEAN is expected to slowdown, the development of the ASEAN and China economic cooperation within the framework of ASEAN China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) still shows positive growth," Ina said.

The official said the bilateral trade will hit 500 billion U.S. dollars by 2015, supported by the "upgraded version" of the ASEAN- China Free Trade Zone.

The upgrading of the ASEAN-China FTA Agreement will further liberalize trade and investment by deepening and expanding existing trade in good, trade in services, investment, as well as other areas, according to Ina.

An increased trade between ASEAN and China, as well as increased investment flow, will benefit the people of both ASEAN and China, said the official.

Commenting on the newly Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank ( AIIB) proposed mainly by China, Ina said it is not a rival to the Asia Development Bank.

"In the next five years, Asia requires some eight trillion dollars for infrastructure development, Ina said, adding that these are significant sums of funding which may not be met by bilateral cooperation or the currently existing Multilateral or Regional Financial Institutions alone.

AIIB is able to answer the challenge of the ever-growing need for infrastructure development in ASEAN, Ina said.