Delegation of Mekong Countries Officials Visited Xi’an and Shanghai

The delegation of Mekong countries officials, upon the invitation of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), continued its visit in Xi’an and Shanghai from 23 to 27 September 2015.

On 24 September 2015, after visiting Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Warriors and the Ancient City Wall of Xi’an, the delegation met with Mr. Kan Kaipei, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shaanxi Provincial Government. Mr. Kan warmly welcomed the delegation, briefed the history, culture, economic and social development of Shaanxi and the exchanges and cooperation between Shaanxi and ASEAN countries. He introduced that Shaanxi, with a long history, had been the starting point of the ancient silk road. It had rich natural resources, strong capacity in science and education, and an advantageous geographical location. In recent years, the exchanges between Shaanxi and ASEAN countries had kept growing. Shaanxi Province and Xi’an City had actively engaged in the building of “One Belt One Road”. They looked forward to strengthening exchanges and cooperation with Mekong countries in the areas of science and technology, education, agriculture, tourism, etc.. The delegates expressed their appreciation for the warm hospitality extended by the Foreign Affairs Office of Shaanxi Provincial Government and said that it was a valuable opportunity to visit Xi’an. They felt strongly through the visits that Xi’an was not only a city with long history and rich culture, but also a modern metropolis. The delegates expected to enhance relations with Shaanxi Province and expand people-to-people exchanges and economic cooperation, especially in agriculture and tourism.

On 25 September 2015, the delegation went to Shanghai. Mr. Zhu Weimin, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shanghai Municipal Government, met with the delegation. Mr. Zhu warmly welcomed the delegation and briefed on Shanghai’s social and economic development and international exchanges. He also introduced the exchanges between Shanghai and ASEAN countries. Shanghai had already established sister city relations with cities of Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. The total import and export volume between Shanghai and ASEAN countries hit 190.05 billion RMB, and ASEAN ranked the 3rd biggest trading partner of Shanghai. Shanghai was striving to become the "Four Centres" by 2020, namely international economic centre, international financial centre, international trade centre and international shipping centre. He hoped that Shanghai would further strengthen cooperation with ASEAN countries in other various areas. The delegates expressed their impression towards Shanghai’s economic and social development, as well as their willingness to learn development experience from Shanghai and enhance exchanges and cooperation with Shanghai in various fields. Officials form Laos and Myanmar hoped that there would be sister city relations between the cities of their own countries and Shanghai, so as to promote economic and trade cooperation between both sides through exchanges of local governments and people-to-people exchanges.

The delegation visited the Committee of Commerce of Shanghai Pudong New Area on the same day. The official in charge of the Division of Investment Promotion of the Committee introduced the development of Pudong New Area, especially the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone. He stressed that a series of successful measures had been adopted in institutional innovation in the Pilot Free Trade Zone, including simplifying procedures for the entry of foreign investment, facilitating trade, promoting financial innovation and changing the supervision role of government agencies, etc.. The delegates were deeply impressed with the introduction and actively exchanged views with the local officials on the innovation measures, transformation of industries, contribution of the Pilot FTZ to the overall economy of Shanghai, the investment of ASEAN countries in Shanghai, the relations between “One Belt One Road” and the Pilot FTZ.

On 26 September 2015, the delegation joined a working lunch hosted by the Chamber of International Commerce Shanghai. The leaders of the organization briefed its main functions and major works. They introduced that the enterprises of Shanghai were eager to expand economic and trade cooperation with Mekong countries and hoped to receive more useful information and strong support from the governments of relevant countries. The delegates expressed their welcome and support for the Chamber of International Commerce Shanghai and enterprises of Shanghai to invest and operate business in their countries. They wished that the enterprises of Shanghai would share their advantages in funds, technology, experiences and information with Mekong countries so as to jointly push forward the economic growth of Mekong countries in a mutually beneficial way.

During its stay in Shanghai, the delegation also visited the Oriental Pearl Tower, Yu Garden, and enjoyed the night scenery of the Bund and Huangpu River with a boat tour. On 27 September 2015, officials of each country bid farewell to the staff members of ACC and respectively departed Shanghai for their own country. Before their departure, they said that the visit was very meaningful and fruitful and would like to contribute to the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism and ASEAN-China relations.