Expo Attracts Influential People From Across Region

By Tian Yuan

China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit serve as vital exchange mechanisms bringing regional ties closer

The 14th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO)and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS) were held from Sept. 12-14 in Nanning, capital city of south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. As important exchange mechanisms between China and ASEAN, the past 13 CAEXPO and CABIS events combined have attracted more than 100 state leaders from both China and ASEAN countries, more than 4,000 ministerial-level officials and nearly 600,000 businessmen, promoting not only high-level officials’dialogue but also economic and trade cooperation between the two sides.

Since 2004, CABIS has held more than 100 economic and trade events covering topics of concern for both China and ASEAN, which has accelerated exchanges and cooperation for the business and industrial communities of the two sides. For instance, round-table dialogues between state leaders of ASEAN countries and CEOs from China have been held eight times, facilitating contracts with a total value of US$30 billion.Additionally, the East Asia Business Council set up a China committee liaison office in Guangxi,and the China-ASEAN Business Council also established a similar liaison office in the region,further broadening the cooperation channel for the business and industrial communities of China and ASEAN, as well as East Asia, and expanding China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation to more countries related to the Belt and Road Initiative.

Nowadays, upgrading both CAEXPO and CABIS has become a common aspiration for China and ASEAN countries. The 14th CAEXPO deepened cooperation in the fields of trade, investment,tourism and international production capacity,guiding various fields from dialogue to pragmatic cooperation. So far, the World Trade Organization and the International Trade Center have become supporting partners of CAEXPO, and some related countries in the region which have established comprehensive economic partnerships have also become active participants.

About the author:Tian Yuan is Economic Daily’s Jakarta Bureau Chief.

ASEAN remains a priority in China’s neighborhood diplomacy, as well as a major area for the construction of the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. Both CAEXPO and CABIS are conducive to deepening bilateral economic, cultural, peopleto-people and trade cooperation, as well as developing sound strategic partnerships with ASEAN. The events will give a strong impetus to the construction of the Belt and Road.

In light of efforts made by organizers of CAEXPO and CABIS, a number of major projects such as the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, the China-ASEAN Port Cities Cooperation Network, the China-ASEAN Information Port, the south channel of the China-Singapore interconnection project and the Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor are being accelerated. Additionally, a new mode of international cooperation, the China-Malaysia “two countries, two industrial parks”, has been successfully launched.

The 14th CAEXPO was themed on “Co-Building the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, Promoting Regional Economic Integration through Tourism”, and for the first time the expo invited related countries of the Silk Road Economic Belt to serve as guest partners. The organizer also set up a Belt and Road exhibition area for the first time, as well as held 36 high-level forums,all of which further promoted regional economic integration to develop towards mutual benefit and win-win results.

The win-win results of jointly convening CAEXPO and CABIS have proved that the events serve as an important bridge to enhance political mutual trust between China and ASEAN countries, promote trade and investment facilitation, and strengthen cultural and people-to-people exchanges. In the near future,CAEXPO plans to invite more countries, international organizations and companies to get involved and serve as a platform for the construction of the Belt and Road in order to build a closer China-ASEAN community of shared future.