Formally established on the first day of this year, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) is the most populous of its kind among developing countries.

For the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region - which neighbors several ASEAN economies - the FTA means a host of new opportunities for expanding bilateral cooperation and boosting development.

Local authorities plan to make full use of the China-ASEAN Expo, the China-ASEAN Commercial Summit and Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Forum to leverage the region's locale and greatly boost business.

The Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone is planned as a more open and environmentally friendly economic hub for increasing regional cooperation to meet the need for an international transportation network better connected to ASEAN economies.

Local authorities are now accelerating construction of a crude oil terminal and a railway port to serve a 10-million-ton petroleum processing plant in the port city Qinzhou.

As well, a specialized terminal for coal on the Beibu Gulf and a non-ferrous metal export center are under construction in Baise, a border city in Guangxi that neighbors an important mining region of Vietnam.

Boosted by the FTA, the Guangxi government projects annual revenue of more than 100 billion yuan from industries including automobiles, petrochemicals, electricity, mining and machinery in 2012.

Several R&D centers are planned for emerging industries like new energy and new materials.

The autonomous region also plans to increase export of electronic and other high-tech products to ASEAN markets, according to local officials.

Authorities also envision a regional commercial hub for agricultural products and rubber due to Guangxi's proximity to Southeast Asia.

The also vow that more attention will be paid to investment as Guangxi quickens its pace in building export-oriented processing zones, free-tariff port areas and bonded logistics parks.

The Guangxi government hopes to boost local companies to invest in ASEAN countries especially in agriculture and fishing.

Greater cooperation is also planned with the Great Mekong Sub Region, the Pan Beibu Gulf Region and the Nanning-Singapore Economic Corridor.

Supported by favorable policies, customs services are set to be overhauled to improve efficiency.