Meeting with Arroyo on the first day of her three-day visit to China, Hu said he hoped to speed up negotiations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and launch the free-trade pact "on time," state television CCTV said.

Arroyo was quoted by CCTV as saying she believed progress will be made in negotiations, with mutual efforts by China and ASEAN, which includes the Philippines.

The planned accord would create the world's biggest free trade zone of nearly two billion people with a combined gross domestic product of two trillion dollars by 2010.

Talks had hit a snag with Southeast Asian countries unable to agree which products should be included in a basket of goods to be liberalised.

Some of the ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, were believed to want a longer timeframe to bring down tariffs on sensitive farm products.

The impasse threatened to delay an agreement on the chapter covering trade in goods -- the first in the negotiations process.

On Wednesday, Hu and Arroyo greeted each other warmly in her first visit since she was re-elected in May.