Ties with ASEAN set to get broader, deeper

The two sides will also enhance person-to-person contact, Lee noted. In Dongxing, a city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, a new immigration office will allow Chinese visitors to obtain visas, while ASEAN is continuing work on a single visa for all its member states.

On the financial front, more initiatives on matching banks and enterprises will be held to encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in ASEAN.

Bilateral cooperation is also being directed to the high-technology front, where a Beidou Satellite Navigation Technology forum will be organized to fuel industrial upgrading via high-end industrial cooperation.

A total of 5,554 booths have been rented for the expo this year, 20.7 percent above estimates, Yao said.

A series of trade matching events will also be held to provide customized matches, drawing on the members of 120 purchasing and investment delegations from China and abroad.

Fields involved include coffee, handicraft, rubber, food packaging machinery, building materials, engineering machinery, electronics and electrical appliances and agricultural machinery.

Bilateral trade between ASEAN and China exceeded $400 billion in 2012, up from $54.7 billion in 2003. In the first half of 2013, trade grew 12.2 percent to $210.56 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

As ASEAN's biggest trade partner, China recorded a trade surplus of $8.5 billion in 2012 in its trade with the 10-nation group. It has pledged to increase imports from ASEAN.

As of the end of June, Chinese direct investment in ASEAN totaled nearly $30 billion, and direct investment from ASEAN into China exceeded $80 billion, the ministry said.