Chinese commerce minister Chen Deming stated in Jakarta on April 2 that the completion of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) will create more cooperation opportunities and benefits for the industrial and commercial circles of the two states. China and Indonesia should make full use of the opportunity that CAFTA has been completed to further expand bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Chen, who is to attend the tenth meeting of China-Indonesian Joint Committee of Economics and Trade, was present at the luncheon for the industrial and commercial circles of the two states held by Indonesia's Ministry of Trade and Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry-China Committee (KIKT) on that day and delivered a speech, expressing that the two states’ economic and trade cooperation has undergone the test of the international financial crisis and made new progress. The completion of CAFTA obviously promoted bilateral trade, with the bilateral trade volume being a year-on-year increase of 80% from January to February.