(Yicai Global) July 10 -- The cooperation on infrastructure construction and interconnection between China and the ASEAN countries has seen steady and fast progress, says China's ministry of commerce. By the end of May this year, the infrastructure construction contracts signed by Chinese enterprises with their ASEAN counterparts amounted to USD296.2 billion, of which projects worth USD204 billion have already been completed.

A large number of highway, railway, port, aviation, electric power, bridge and other projects are also under way, said China's vice minister of commerce, Qian Keming, at a press conference about bilateral economic and trade cooperation and the 14th China-ASEAN Expo.

From January to May this year, China-ASEAN trade maintained sustained growth, with the growth rate reaching 16.2 percent, 3.2 percentage points higher than the national average trade growth rate, said Qian. China's exports to ASEAN countries hit USD108.8 billion, while imports from ASEAN reached USD86.8 billion.

China and ASEAN are important sources of foreign investment for each other, vice minister added. By the end of May 2017, the cumulative amount of two-way investment has exceeded USD183 billion, of which ASEAN's investment in China amounted to USD108 billion. Although ASEAN's investment in China is much more than China's investment in ASEAN, Chinese enterprises have rapidly increased their investment in ASEAN countries in recent years. Last year, China's investment in ASEAN exceeded USD9 billion, compared with USD3 million worth of ASEAN investment in China that emerges as the major source of foreign investment in ASEAN. China is the largest source of foreign investment for such countries as Cambodia and Laos.