China signed a free-trade agreement covering 60 services industries with 10 Southeast Asian nations today, stealing the march on India which has been negotiating a similar deal for more than two years.

The pact, which covers everything from transport to energy services, will come into effect on July 1, according to the agreement released in Cebu, the Philippines, where Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao met leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The services agreement is a step toward the fulfillment of a decadelong plan to establish an Asean-China free-trade area by 2015. Trade between Asean, which represents 550 million people, and China rose 23% last year to $160 billion. China, with a population of 1.2 billion, is the largest exporter of goods and services to Asean after Japan.

“China and Asean have built a close strategic relationship across all sectors,” Mr. Wen said yesterday. “China’s development cannot be separated from Asean and Asean’s development cannot be separated from China.”

India, which started negotiations on easier rules for services with Asean in 2005, expects to finish talks later this year. Still, tariff cuts on goods, which were to have started in 2005, haven’t yet been signed. Talks were stalled after disagreement on products that should be included in the agreement.

The agreement covers services sectors such as computer technology, real estate, market research, management consulting, construction and engineering, tourism, education, health, recreation, sports, the environment, and energy. China and Asean leaders also signed agreements on trade in agricultural products and information technology, without providing details.

Asean is made up of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.