ACC Secretary-General Attended the Opening Session of the Seminar on East Asia Cooperation

On 17 July 2015, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the Opening Session of the Seminar on East Asia Cooperation. The Seminar was co-hosted by the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) and China Foreign Affairs University, and supported by ACC as well as ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) and ASEAN-Korea Centre (AKC). H.E. Mr. IWATANI Shigeo, Secretary-General of TCS, Mr. Qin Yaqing, President of China Foreign Affairs University, representatives from the Department of Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, experts and specialists from Laos, Singapore, Viet Nam, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea attended the Opening Session.

When delivering the congratulatory remarks, Secretary-General Yang extended her congratulations to the Opening of the Seminar. She expressed that “East Asian countries are geographically close, economically complementary and culturally connected. Strengthening of East Asia cooperation will not only benefit local interests of this region, but is also of great significance to the global peace and stability. Currently, the cooperation in various areas has been flourishing across East Asia. However, at the same time, East Asia cooperation also faces some difficulties. To realize the establishment of East Asia Community requires joint efforts of the relevant countries in this region. The ASEAN Community is to be established by the end of the year. It will inject a new momentum to regional cooperation and will play an even more important role in the construction of East Asia Community”. Secretary-General Yang also said “ASEAN-China Centre, as the first and the only inter-governmental international organization co-founded by the governments of ASEAN Member States and China, has been vigorously implementing the mandates of leaders of China and ASEAN, and will continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with relevant parties, so as to further make great contributions to the development of ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership”.

The theme of the Seminar was “From ASEAN Community to East Asia Community”. Participants of the Seminar had full discussions in its four different Sessions, namely, “Enhancing Mutual Trust and Maintaining Peace in the Region”, “Towards East Asia Economic Community”, “Cultivating Sense of Community in East Asia” and “Role of TCS and the ASEAN Centres”.