The Opening Ceremony of the 14th CAEXPO held in Nanning

On 12 September 2017, the opening ceremony of the 14th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and the 14th China-ASEAN Business & Investment Summit (CABIS) was held in Nanning. More than 1,000 participants including state leaders, government officials, foreign diplomats in China and heads of relevant international organizations, representatives from famous enterprises and media from ASEAN and China attended the event. H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASENA-China Centre (ACC), attended the ceremony upon invitation.

H.E. Mr. Zhang Gaoli, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council of China delivered a keynote speech. He stated that China and ASEAN are enjoying the right time and place as well as the support of the people in the joint building of the Belt and Road. In recent years, China and ASEAN have carried forward the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, vigorously promoted policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds, and made remarkable progress in bilateral cooperation in various fields. Mr. Zhang Gaoli proposed six-point suggestions: First is to deepen bilateral political mutual trust, further strengthen the alignment of development strategies. Second is to deepen international production capacity cooperation and promote industrial structure upgrading. Third is to deepen economic and trade cooperation and promote the sustainable development of China-ASEAN free trade area. Fourth is to deepen connectivity cooperation and speed up the construction of regional infrastructure network. Fifth is to deepen cooperation in innovation and enhance the internal driving forces for economic development. Sixth is to deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation and consolidate the public opinion foundation of bilateral exchanges.

His Majesty Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei Darussalam， the country of honour at the 14th CAEXPO, spoke highly of ASEAN-China cooperation and China’s great support to the building of ASEAN community. He said this year marks the 50th anniversary of ASEAN. After half a century’s development, ASEAN has grown into the sixth largest economy in the world with a population of 620 million and huge potential for further development. China is the largest trading partner of ASEAN and ASEAN is China’s third largest. The two sides should further strengthen cooperation, actively implement the upgraded version of ASEAN-China FTA, promote connectivity, deepen people-to-people exchanges and mutual trust and consolidate the foundation of friendly cooperation between both sides. Next year will be the 15th anniversary of ASEAN-China strategic partnership. It is hoped the two sides could join hands and push forward regional development and prosperity by aligning the Belt and Road Initiative and ASEAN Vision 2025.

H.E. Mr. Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, appreciated China-ASEAN Expo’s role as an important platform to promote trade and investment cooperation between the two sides. He said that the friendship between ASEAN and China enjoy a long history and the cooperation between the two sides in various areas has been fruitful and achieved very proud results. This year is the ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation. With joint efforts, ASEAN-China tourism cooperation enjoys steady development and plays positive roles to promote road and people-to-people connectivity between the two sides. The Cambodian side will continue to actively participate in the building of the Belt and Road and lift ASEAN-China relations to a new level.

H.E. Mr. Truong Hoa Binh, Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and Permanent DPM of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, H.E. Mr. Sonexay Siphandone, Deputy Prime Minister of Lao PDR, H.E. Mr. Askar Myrzakhmetov, First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan respectively delivered speeches at the opening ceremony. Mr. Peng Qinghua, Secretary of the Communist Party of China Guangxi Committee, Mr. Fu Ziying, International Trade Negotiator and Vice Minister of Commerce of China and Mr. Jiang Zengwei, Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, addressed the opening ceremony on behalf of the host province, the CAEXPO and CAEXPO Organizing Committees respectively.

The theme of the 14th CAEXPO is “Jointly Building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Promoting Regional Economic Integration through Tourism”. It is the first time for CAEXPO to set up a special exhibition area for the Belt and Road Initiative. About 35 high level forums were held featuring the building of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, both the quantity and covering areas of which made a record high.