Written by the Editorial Department / Translated by Zhang Hongling

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The 13thCAEXPO & CABIS： Producing More Fruitful Results by Following the Principles of Wide Consultation，Joint Contribution and Shared Benefits

Written by the Editorial Department / Translated by Zhang Hongling

On September 14, 2016, both the 13thChina-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and the 13thChina-ASEAN Business & Investment Summit (CABIS) were successfully concluded, yielding more fruitful results. The year 2016 is the 25thanniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations, the fi rst year after the establishment of ASEAN community, and a crucial year for the Belt and Road construction, when enormous business opportunities have been created by CAEXPO and the strongest voice of strengthening ASEAN-China cooperation has been transmitted to the whole world once again.

Upgrading cooperation jointly by building consensus

At the opening ceremony of the 13thCAEXPO & CABIS, all the participating guests, including eight ASEAN-China state leaders and 246 ministerial-level officials, were impressed by the theme of “upgrading jointly; excelling cohesively”, which is meant to make concerted efforts to transform ASEAN-China industrial production capacity cooperation from traditional industries to modern ones via measures of information and intelligence.

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli noted that CAEXPO as a mutually-beneficial platform for ASEANChina cooperation undertakes a significant mission of advancing the Belt and Road construction, and is believed to make greater contributions to an even closer ASEAN-China community of shared destiny;

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that CAEXPO has been playing an important role in the ASEAN-China strategic partnership since 2004;

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen stated that CAEXPO is an indispensable platform for connectivity between China and the remaining Asian countries in terms of infrastructure, business, investment, tourism and culture;

Myanmar’s First Vice President U Myint Swe believed that CAEXPO is a symbol of ASEAN-China friendship, economic cooperation and people-to-people exchange, and is the best platform for the promotion of these aspects;

Laotian Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone praised CAEXPO as a wise move, which has provided more conveniences for investment and trade between ASEAN countries and China and made important contributions to bilateral cooperation;

And Thai Deputy Prime Minister Prajin Juntong expressed that CAEXPO has evolved into a vital platform for mutual benefits and equal cooperation between ASEAN countries and China.

“I believe that ASEAN is the most promising and dynamic area in the world. China and ASEAN countries enjoy geographical proximity, close people-to-people ties and cultural affi nity, so more miracles will be made through bilateral cooperation,” said Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group Jack Ma, who made his remarks at the opening ceremony as a representative of private enterprises.

Indeed, previous CAEXPOs have witnessed a number of miracles made by the two sides: bilateral trade volume has increased from US$ 8 billion to US$ 472 billion; personnel exchanges have been more frequent than before, reaching 23 million person-times.

Remarkable achievements through an all-round cooperation

This year, both the exhibition area and the number of participating enterprises hit all-time record highs. According to the statistics, the number of booths increased to 5,800 after putting the new exhibition hall with an area of 30,000 square meters into use;65,000 travelling merchants and 89 purchaser groups participated in the Expo, an increase of 4.7% over the previous year; and over 400 international purchasers from European and American countries, the Middle East, South Asia and Africa also engaged in various purchasing negotiations.

With regard to the contents of the Expo, various aspects were acclaimed by people from all walks of life: Korea and countries along routes of the Belt and Road including India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka made their appearances in the International Economic Cooperation Pavilion, signifying that the scope of services have extended from the China-ASEAN region to regions surrounding the Belt and Road; the newlyincreased ASEAN Investment & Service Trade Pavilion was set up for ASEAN industrial parks, as well as latest investment policies and projects, so as to make enterprises from relevant countries better go global; China-ASEAN Agricultural Cooperation Pavilion also made its debut, creating a platform aimed at agricultural cooperation between ASEAN countries and China via demonstrations, transactions and exchanges.

In terms of investment promotion and trade cooperation, there are a total of 72 relevant promotion conferences held during the Expo, concluding agreements on 166 economic cooperation projects: 56 international items and 110 domestic ones.

Furthermore, marked progress was also made in terms of major projects related to international production capacity and equipment manufacturing while trade investment projects were flourishing. In particular, a batch of agreements on key projects was signed at the 2nd China-ASEAN Information Harbor Forum.

Laos Theme Pavilion during the 13th CAEXPO

Meeting again in 2017 to share development achievements

Sri Lanka as a country along the 21stCentury Maritime Silk Road made its appearance, which has demonstrated CAEXPO’s dedication to the expansion of cooperative region. Serving as a specially invited guest of honor, Sri Lanka paid greater attention to its participation in relevant exhibitions and conferences held during the 13thCAEXPO. Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka, led the government delegation, along with representatives of local enterprises, not only to exhibit featured commodities and cultural performing arts but also to hold a variety of promotion conferences. “CAEXPO has provided an excellent platform for Sri Lanka to expand the export of commodities. And participating in CAEXPO has demonstrated that Sri Lanka is of vital signifi cance to the Maritime Silk Road,” said Rishad.

Moreover, significant headway was also made in activities related to the 13thCABIS: The Round-table Dialogue between Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and CEOs from China was successfully concluded, expanding pragmatic cooperation between Vietnam and China; the Research Report on China-ASEAN (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) Trade Facilitation was officially issued; dialogue between political and business leaders from ASEAN and China promoted international production capacity cooperation in an effective way; the Symposium on China-ASEAN Business Law Cooperation themed“Investment Opportunities and Risk Control for Countries Along the Belt and Road” was carried out as expected, expanding the consensus of legal cooperation between ASEAN and China.

This year a total of 34 high-level forums under the CAEXPO were successfully held: The 8thChina-ASEAN Summit Forum on Financial Cooperation & Development, China-ASEAN Statistics Forum (2016), 2016 China-ASEAN Meteorological Forum, etc., more than ever before.

“Not only can I meet my old friends, but also I can make new friends at each CAEXPO. This platform has brought a lot of business opportunities to us, because we could negotiate with dozens of enterprises from different countries and regions each day during previous CAEXPOs,” said an exhibitor from Vietnam, adding that he had participated in CAEXPO for eight times, and would come again in 2017.