Economy

China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit opens

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-19 17:17

NANNING - The 7th China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business and Investment Summit opened in Nanning Tuesday afternoon to discuss ways of expanding economic cooperation between China and ASEAN member countries.

China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the summit in Nanning, capital city of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in South China, with the presence of leaders, officials, business people and scholars from the ten ASEAN countries.

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As Indonesia acts as the Country of Honour of the Expo this year, visiting Indonesian Vice-president Boediono also addressed the opening ceremony of the summit.

This is the first business and investment summit since the establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the world's third largest free trade area, on Jan 1, 2010.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam with a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers.