ACC Held the Second Session of 2021 Joint Executive Board Working Group Meeting

On 8 July 2021, the ASEAN-China Centre's (ACC) Joint Executive Board (JEB) Working Group Meeting was held in Yanqing, Beijing. Representatives from the Department of Asia Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of China and the embassies of ten ASEAN Member States (AMS) in China attended the meeting. Heads of all divisions of ACC participated. The meeting was hosted by Ms. Wang Hongliu, Director of the General Affairs and Coordination Division of ACC, and co-chaired by Ms. Ang Lay Ling, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Brunei Darussalam, the rotating ASEAN Chair, in China, and Mr. Ma Xiaohui, Deputy Director of the Regional Cooperation Division at the Department of Asia Affairs of the MFA of China. This was the second JEB Working Group meeting held by ACC this year.

Ms. Wang Hongliu thanked the members of the JEB for their strong support to ACC. She said ACC had achieved the expected results in promoting ASEAN-China exchanges and cooperation in various fields. The Special Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Dialogue Relations held in Chongqing had injected new impetus into the cooperation between the two sides. ACC will earnestly implement the guiding principles of the Special Foreign Ministers' Meeting into practice, follow the instructions of the Joint Council and the JEB, and actively carry out projects and activities in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of ACC. She looks forward to the continued guidance and assistance of the members of the JEB.

Ms. Ang Lay Ling expressed her gratitude to ACC for the thoughtful arrangements made for hosting the JEB meeting and fully acknowledged the outcome of the meeting. She said the Chongqing Special Foreign Ministers' Meeting was far-reaching and sent out a strong message of continued commitment for ASEAN and China to promoting mutual development. Aiming the next 30 years, the two sides should build on the glorious achievements of the past three decades, further strengthen the solidarity and cooperation and achieve greater progress in line with the trend of the times. She hopes that AMS will continue to support and participate in the work of ACC and promote greater achievements in cooperation between the two sides.

Mr. Ma Xiaohui highly commended the positive results achieved by ACC’s vigorous work. He said since the last JEB Working Group meeting, ASEAN-China relations had achieved new developments. He hopes that ACC will continue to follow the important consensus reached between the leaders of the two sides and use The China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership Vision 2030 as a guide to design and implement more activities, further synergize the development plans of both sides, promote the early-entry-into-force of the RCEP, strengthen cooperation in various fields such as public health and sustainable development, and promote regional economic development and people-to-people exchanges. China will continue to support ACC in its work.

Heads of ACC divisions introduced the working progress respectively since the JEB Working Group meeting in March 2021 and outlined the next phase of work envisioned. Ms. Wang Hongliu also explained the basic framework of the 2022 Work Programme. Representatives of the JEB member countries positively evaluated the ACC’s arrangement for this in-person event and highly appreciated the creative work and rich results achieved by ACC in the context of the pandemic. They put forward their views and suggestions on the implementation of relevant projects and ACC’s 2022 Work Programme. Many representatives warmly congratulated the Communist Party of China on its centenary and looked forward to greater development in China. They unanimously expressed that they would, as always, fully support and cooperate with ACC and further promote fruitful ASEAN-China exchanges and cooperation in various fields.