BEIJING, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has recently unveiled an action plan for deepening economic and trade cooperation with the ASEAN countries from 2021 to 2025, according to the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce on Tuesday. 

According to the action plan, Chongqing targets more than 20 billion U.S. dollars worth of trade volume of goods with ASEAN and over 15 billion U.S. dollars of investment from the ASEAN countries in actual use, by 2025. 

Meanwhile, Chongqing aims to bring its implementation of service outsourcing from ASEAN countries to more than 500 million U.S. dollars, and the number of Chongqing-funded enterprises in the ASEAN countries to more than 150 by 2025, said the plan. 

An official of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce said that in 2019 and 2020, ASEAN had been Chongqing's largest trading partner for two consecutive years. In 2020, the import and export volume with ASEAN countries was 112.17 billion yuan, accounting for 18.1 percent of the city's total import and export volume. As of the end of 2020, the amount of the foreign capital from ASEAN countries in actual use had been 12.51 billion U.S. dollars for Chongqing. 

In fact, many enterprises in Chongqing have taken root in the ASEAN countries. In 2014, the Chongqing-based Sokon Group selected Indonesia as its first choice for overseas investment. Since the completion of its plant in Indonesia in 2018, the company has formed a "3+1" product system in Indonesia with three SUV models and one "super cab" model. 

The introduction of the action plan will help Chongqing seize the major opportunities brought by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to accelerate opening-up of the inland areas, according to Fang Chaojun, Associate Professor of Chongqing Finance and Economics College.