Beijing, February 25 (People’s Daily) -- The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) has greatly pushed forward bilateral trade relations in terms of bilateral trade in January, said Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Yao Jian February 25.

The China-ASEAN bilateral trade volume in January reached 21.48 billion U.S. dollars, up 80 percent year-on-year, of which China exported 10.55 billion U.S. dollars to ASEAN, a year-on-year increase of 52.8 percent, and imported 10.93 billion U.S. dollars from ASEAN, up 117.3 percent year-on-year. All growth rates are higher than the year-on-year level of China's overall foreign trade.

Yao said that the China-ASEAN FTA is proving to be win-win cooperation and China has taken into full account the interests of ASEAN countries, especially those who are new members, and has strived to achieve mutual benefits.

China's imports and exports to and from ASEAN are basically the same in January, with a slight deficit. It is worth noting that China's imports from ASEAN countries have increased substantially in January, among which the imports from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Singapore all grew two-fold over the same period last year, with a respective year-on-year increase of 153.4 percent, 140.54 percent, 114.2 percent, 92.7 percent, and 75.6 percent.

The China-ASEAN FTA has brought tangible benefits that companies and consumers on both sides can learn through practice, Yao added.