ACC Secretary-General Visited A Private Company in Xishuangbanna Prefecture

On 30 October 2016, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) visited a privately-own border trade company Shunyuan in Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province and had discussions with its general manager to acquire information on its cooperation with ASEAN countries.

General Manager Wu Jingyuan cited that the company is among the top 20 in Xishuangbanna Prefecture. It has kept increasing trade and investment in Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, and other ASEAN countries over the past 16 years since its inception. It has carried out rubber, corn, rice plantation business in Myanmar and Lao PDR in a cultivated area of more than 300,000 mu, and opened two corn processing plants in Lao PDR. The development of the company is attributable to the support by governments of China and ASEAN countries. The liaison and cooperation mechanisms in this region have offered a great platform for the exchanges between government agencies and enterprises which have played an important role in helping resolve the difficulties that enterprises face. It is hoped that governments of ASEAN countries and China would pay greater attention to border trade, further improve the policies on border trade, help enterprises, SMEs in particular, benefit more from ASEAN-China FTA and provide more preferential policies in support of border trade enterprises.

Secretary-General Yang outlined ACC’s mandate and its activities to promote two-way trade and investment. She cited that border trade is an important part of practical cooperation between ASEAN and China, where SMEs play a big part. ACC has all along supported the development of SMEs, promoted the policies regarding ACFTA, took Chinese SMEs for trade and investment missions to ASEAN countries and invited ASEAN SMEs to China for large-scale exhibitions for their products. All these have been useful channels for the business communities of both sides to strengthen cooperation. ACC will continue to support and assist SMEs in light of their actual needs, and advance practical cooperation between China and ASEAN.