Secretary-General Chen Dehai Attended the Dialogue on Joint Building of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor

On 8 January 2019, the Dialogue on Joint Building of New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor was held in Chongqing. Mr. Tang Liangzhi, Deputy Secretary of Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Chongqing, Mr. Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore attended the dialogue and delivered opening remarks. Also present were high level officials from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information, General Administration of Customs, representatives from 12 western provinces and cities in China including Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Xizang, Shaanxi, diplomatic envoys of ASEAN Member States including Singapore, Viet Nam, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines, representatives of Chinese state-own enterprises including China Rail Corporation, China COSCO Shipping Group，China Merchants Group, etc. Secretary-General Chen Dehai of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the event and spoke at the thematic session. 

Mr. Tang Liangzhi said in welcome remarks that over the past year, the building of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor has achieved a series of groundbreaking results thanks to the great attention of the leaders of China and Singapore and the full support of relevant parties. The cooperation in four major areas, namely financial services, aviation, transportation and logistics, and information and telecommunication has made unexpected overall achievements. This dialogue is expected to serve as a good opportunity to push forward the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor based on the principles of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits to a new frontier. 

Minister Chan Chun Sing said that the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (CCI) and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor are in accordance with the two sides’ shared aspiration for greater connectivity and closer cooperation, and conducive to enhancing competitiveness of both sides to jointly build a prosperous economy. We should give full play to the advantages of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, decrease the financing cost of enterprises in the western China, improve the linkage among land-air-sea and traditional multimodal transports, strengthen the connectivity of data, human resources, technology and finance, and turn the trade corridor from concept to reality in order to realize the development vision of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. 

At the dialogue, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Zhang Jun, Assistant Minister of Commerce Mr. Ren Hongbin, Vice Chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Mr. Yang Jinbo made keynote speeches respectively around the theme of “the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor based on the principles of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits”. 

Secretary-General Chen Dehai fully recognized the substantial progress that has been made over the past year since the initiation of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and pointed out that the corridor is jointly built by relevant parties on the basis of wide consultation and aims to promote regional connectivity and international cooperation, thus needs the active participation and joint efforts of all sectors. ACC will continue to play its role as a bridge and information hub and work with friends from all sides to encourage more ASEAN Member States and Chinese provinces to take an active part in the building of the corridor, continue to expand the circle of friends and to make our due contributions to the project.

At the thematic session, Vice Governor of Guizhou Lu Yongzheng, Vice Governor of Sichuan Li Yunze, Vice Chairman of Government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Wang Heshan, Vice Governor of Gansu Province Zhang Shizhen, Deputy Secretary-General of the Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Zhu Xinxiang, Deputy Secretary-General of the Government of Qinghai Province Zhao Haijun, Deputy Secretary-General of the Government of Yunnan Province Jiang Xinming, the Thai Ambassador to China H.E. Mr. Piriya Khempon, Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of Viet Nam to China Mr. Nguyen Dac Thanh, and leaders of the Chinese state-owned enterprises including China COSCO Shipping Group, China Merchants Group, China Railway Corporation had in-depth exchanges around the topics of BRI cooperation, economic transformation, financial cooperation, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, inclusive and sustainable development, and discussed on the direction and key areas of cooperation for the next stage. During the dialogue, Chongqing and relevant provinces and cities in western China signed cooperation agreements on jointly building the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.