China and ASEAN countries are seeking to improve their free trade agreement, led by electric vehicles and e-commerce

Analysts say more e-commerce and tighter supply chain links are expected after China and the key 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc said they were pushing for an end to talks on modernizing a landmark free trade agreement.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which encompasses 673 million people and several fast-growing economies, is “actively working” with China to improve the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area pact, the bloc’s secretary-general Kao Kim Hourn said at a joint leadership event in China last week.

China said it was working to “early complete” the update of the pact signed in 2009, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang.

The so-called upgrade to version 3.0 of the agreement will cover “megatrends of our time” such as the digital economy and environmental protection, Hourn said.