ASEAN FTA deal 'on track'

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are on track to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with just a number of details remaining to be ironed out, secretary-general of the 10- member organization Ong Keng Yong has said.

The year "2010 is well within our expectations," Ong said on Monday on the sidelines of a luncheon with US business leaders in Singapore.

China and ASEAN have agreed to build a free trade area before 2010 that is expected to create a market for about 1.8 billion people, making it the third-largest such area in the world.