ACC Attended the 43rd East Asia Business Council (EABC) Meeting and Related Meetings

From 9 to 10 January 2019, the 43rd East Asia Business Council (EABC) Meeting and related meetings were held in Chongqing, China. Mr. Chen Zhou, Vice Chairman of China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), Mr. Peng Gang, Director General of Department of Asian Affairs, Ministry of Commerce of China, Mr. Lawrence Leow Chin Hin, rotating chair in 2018 of the EABC, leaders of business circles from the ASEAN Member States and China, Korea, Japan, as well as representatives from Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS), ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) and ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), etc. attended the events.  

At the meeting, CCPIT Vice Chairman Chen Zhou took over the rotating chairmanship of EABC in 2019. He said that it is EABC’s responsibility to improve cooperation mechanism for business communities in East Asia, strengthen economic and trade ties and join efforts to oppose trade protectionism, which has great significance to the healthy and stable economic development in the region and beyond. In 2019, EABC will continue to push forward the work of three working groups on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), e-commerce, and SMEs, release outcome documents such as proposal of the business circle on RCEP negotiation, East Asia Goods Clearance Guidance, etc. Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, EABC will continue to upgrade corporate cooperation, strengthen interaction with inter-governmental mechanisms and step up efforts to build bridges between government mechanisms and corporate cooperation. The meeting deliberated on issues of rotating vice chairmanship, the annual theme, activities and arrangements of 2019. 

Chongqing Vice Mayor Liu Guiping met with main representatives of the EABC meeting. He gave an overview of the economic and social achievements of Chongqing in the recent years, its cooperation with 12 East Asian countries in the areas of economy, trade, people-to-people exchanges, logistics and tourism and proposed direction for deepening future cooperation between Chongqing and East Asia countries. 

At the working group meeting on SMEs, ACC representative Li Sa briefed on ACC’s major activities in the areas of trade and investment in 2018 and the coming schedules for 2019. She invited members of EABC, AJC, AKC and TCS to participate in the 2019 ASEAN-China Smart Industry Conference which is to be held by ACC from 25 to 27 July 2019 in Ho Chi Minh City.