The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Secretary General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan said that the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement will benefit the countries joining in the regional grouping, the Jakarta Globe reported on Wednesday.

Surin said that the ASEAN member countries would benefit from more trade and investment under the pact, and could gain even more if they can insert themselves into "supply lines"to Chinese factories.

Surin did, however, acknowledge that some countries would likely encounter "difficulties"implementing the agreement, which was signed in 2004 and took effect on Jan. 1 this year.

"Every member state has its own way of managing the transition because the agreement is going to involve some adjustments, responsibilities and cooperation,"he said.

"China is a large market that everybody wants to get into, and I think the line that the ASEAN should be thinking, as China grows, ASEAN grows with it. So we have to be on the supply lines into the factories of China, into the production base of China," Surin said.

With its economy growing by a huge 8.7 percent last year, China is now the world's third-largest economy after the United States and Japan, and is expected to lead the global economic recovery.

According to a report by DBS Bank last year, China will continue to inject strong demand into global trade, thus boosting the economies of its export-dependent Asian neighbors, including Indonesia.

The ASEAN-China trade pact creates the world's third-largest free-trade area after the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2010)