On 16 September 2014, Secretary-General Ma Mingqiang of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), met with H.E. Mme. Khemmani Pholsena, Lao Minister of Industry and Commerce (MOIC), in Liyuan Villa, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, during her visit to China to attend the 11th CAEXPO.
Secretary-General Ma briefed Mme. Khemmani on ACC’s achievements in promoting cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, education, tourism and culture, in recent years and its work plans for future. He elaborated on the establishment of the ASEAN-China Trade Centre in Yiwu which was running as a platform to offer better access for ASEAN and Lao products to enter the Chinese market. More trade centres will be set up in other cities of China after the successful model in Yiwu. ACC believes that the trade centres will contribute significantly to the growth of trade and investment between ASEAN and China. Secretary-General Ma said, based on ACC’s connections, there are many companies in different sectors in China that are seeking opportunities to invest in or to purchase commodities from ASEAN countries. Through ACC’s channel some companies express strong interest in importing 200,000 tons of corn from Laos and investing in cassava plantation to convert cassava into bio-fuel for local use. In the educational sector, He said that ACC would provide, in conjunction with Chinese educational institutions, some scholarships for Lao students to pursue vocational studies in China. ACC also donated 300,000 RMB worth of training opportunities and equipment to the Lao Ministry of Education and Sports in May 2014. At the end of 2014, ACC will assist Laos in promoting its tourism in China by shooting two documentaries and will be aired nationwide in China Central Television (CCTV). ACC is currently contacting with the concerned Ministries in Laos to put the project in practice soon.
Mme. Khemmani congratulated ACC on remarkable achievements made under Secretary-General Ma’s leadership in the past years, and showed her deep appreciation for ACC’s assistance extended to the Lao people and government. She subscribed to the seminal role of the Trade Center in Yiwu and encouraged ACC to further spread the model in other cities of China. She pointed out that Laos has a great potential for growing cassava and exporting corn to China. Corn and cassava production in Laos are mostly organic. Currently Laos has two cassava factories with more than 20,000 hectares of cassava plantation around the country. She encouraged the Chinese companies to enter into direct talks with the cassava and corn suppliers in Laos as the first step to materialise their investment. As for the tourism documentaries, she will assist ACC to push the concerned Ministries to accelerate the procedure for their shooting in Laos on schedule. She thanked Secretary-General Ma for his everlasting support and guidance to Mr. Mouavixay Palee, who is working at ACC as the representative from Laos.
Both sides agreed on strengthening cooperation between ACC and MOIC to carry out more pragmatic projects in promising sectors to enhance ASEAN-China relation, in particular Laos-China economic and trade relations in the upgraded version of ASEAN-China FTA.
The meeting was attended, from the Lao side, by the Lao Ambassador to China, Assistant Minister of Planning and Investment, Director-General of Asia Pacific Department of Lao MOFA, Consul General of the General Consulate of Lao PDR in Nanning, and, from the ACC side, by Mr Mouavixay Palee, Deputy Director of Trade and Investment Division, Chairman of ASEAN-China Investment Consortium, Shiguang (Beijing) Real Estate Development Co., Ltd, Tian’an (Fujian) Real Estate Co., Ltd, and Suzhou Tian Liang Harbor Grain Modern Logistic Park Co., Ltd.
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