19th China-ASEAN Expo to be held in Nanning

The 19th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit will be held in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, from Sep 16 to 19.

Themed in sharing new opportunities of the RCEP and jointly advancing version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the events will showcase the new achievements and highlights of the economic and trade cooperation between the two sides, Li Fei, assistant minister of commerce told a news conference held in Beijing on Monday.

Zhang Shaogang, vice-chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said three major events will be held during the summit, including the roundtable dialogue between the state leader of Malaysia and CEOs of Chinese enterprises on topics such as energy, finance, infrastructure, industrial parks, and electronic information, the China-ASEAN business leaders forum and special dialogue on RCEP cooperation and the China-ASEAN commercial law cooperation forum.

Covering an area of 102,000 square meters, this year's exhibition for the first time will feature several sections on new energy vehicles, culture and tourism, healthcare and cross-border e-commerce.

Cai Lixin, executive vice-chairperson of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, said 21 high-level forums and more than 80 economic and trade promotion activities will be held during the expo.

China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years. During the first seven months of this year, their trade with each other surged 13.1 percent year-on-year to $544.9 billion, accounting for 15 percent of China's total foreign trade during the period.

As of the end of July, bilateral investment between China and ASEAN had exceeded $340 billion, while the turnover of Chinese enterprises from project contracts in ASEAN countries exceeded $380 billion.