China-ASEAN Expo boosts regional ties

A Sino-ASEAN exposition in Nanning, the capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has done a great deal to increase exchanges and cooperation in various fields among China and ASEAN member countries through forums and dialogues.

The annual China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) was established in 2004 by the Ministry of Commerce and the economic administrations of 10 ASEAN countries.

Since then, there have been more than 180 high-level forums and cultural and sports activities taking place in relation to the CAEXPO sessions.

The forums have covered trade, investment, travel, technology, ports, customs regulations, finance and the media. Nearly 40 state leaders and more than 1,300 ministry-level officials have taken part in these.

One forum on the culture industry has become a major source of cultural exchanges and has helped increase understanding among the people of China and ASEAN members. It also resulted in an international book fair that gives publishers in China and ASEAN countries access to overseas markets.

Another example was a logistics forum, in November, 2006, which dealt with logistics problems in China-ASEAN trade. It helped improve regional services and even led to the establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.

The China-ASEAN Summit on Financial Cooperation and Development, in October, 2009, was a forum on opportunities and challenges in regional cooperation in the finance world and how to handle international risks and facilitate trade and investment.

This led to expectations that countries in the region would open their finance and capital markets, ease restrictions on market entry in the financial sector, develop new financial products, and promote cooperation in settlements.

The heads of Chinese commercial banks, such as the Bank of Communications and China Merchants Bank, who attended the forum, pledged that they would cooperate more with their counterparts in ASEAN member states.

This year's CAEXPO, scheduled to be held from Oct 21 to 26, has a theme of "cooperation in environmental protection" and is expected to increase cooperation in this area and promote sustainable economic development within the region.

China and ASEAN have increased their partnership over the past 20 years and governments and businesses in the region are now placing more emphasis on eco-friendly industries and greater cooperation in this area.

(China Daily 10/20/2011 page18)