ACC Secretary-General Met with Consuls-General of ASEAN Member States in Guangzhou

On 14 November 2016, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), met with the Consuls-General of ASEAN Member States in Guangzhou, including Mr. Nguyen Tien Hong, Consul-General of Viet Nam, Mr. Bounpan Kongnhinsayaseng, Consul-General of Lao PDR, Mr. Muzambli bin Markam, Consul-General of Malaysia, Ms. Ratu Silvy Gayatri, Consul-General of Indonesia, Ms. Marie Charlotte G. Tang, Consul-General of the Philippines, Mr. Vasin Ruangprateepsaeng, Consul-General of Thailand, Mr. Heng Peou, Consul-General of Cambodia, and Ms. Amelia Wong, Consul of Singapore. Ms. Huang Ying, ACC Director of General Affairs and Coordination Division and Mr. Zhang Xuehai, Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations Division attended the meeting.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping spoke highly of the unique role of ASEAN Consulates-General in promoting the communication and cooperation between their home countries and Guangdong Province as well as areas under their jurisdiction. She made a brief introduction on the work of the Centre, saying that 2016 was the 25th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN-China dialogue relations and ASEAN-China Year of Educational Exchange, as well as the 5th anniversary of the establishment of ACC. The Centre has been committed itself in actively implementing the important consensus reached by leaders of both sides since its inception, making efforts to promote pragmatic cooperation in ASEAN-China trade, investment, education, culture, tourism, media among other fields. Over 100 flagship projects had been implemented, and the number of activities which ACC had organized or participated in was up to 500, which had contributed a lot to promoting in-depth development of bilateral relations. Year 2017 will be the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN and is also designated as the Year of ASEAN-China Tourism Cooperation. Bearing this in mind, ACC would like to work with the Consulates-General to continue to strengthen communication and cooperation, and wishs to be endowed with continuous support and positive suggestions from the latter to accelerate hand in hand ASEAN-China relations to a new height.

Consuls-General thanked Secretary-General Yang for the meeting held prior to the ACC Joint Council Meeting in Guangzhou and extended appreciations to ACC’s fruitful achievements in promoting ASEAN-China pragmatic cooperation. They introduced the overall situation of exchanges and cooperation between their respective countries and Guangdong as well as other provinces and cities in China, saying that ASEAN and China enjoyed broad prospect for cooperation in economic and trade, tourism, culture, education, personnel exchanges, and other aspects thanks to the increasingly closer ties between the two sides. ASEAN Economic Community came into realization at the end of last year, followed with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN next year. Hence the two sides would embrace a rare opportunity to deepen exchanges and cooperation. In this regard, Consulates-General would be willing to strengthen communication and have closer contact with ACC in discussing jointly organized activities and to promote the cooperation with local provinces, which would yield more benefit to the two peoples.