Upcoming China-ASEAN Expo Hopes To Advance Bilateral Trade

This year's China-ASEAN Expo will be held in South China's Nanning city, in October.

China's top trade officials hope that the event will further advance regional economies, particularly in reaching potential free trade pacts.

Organizers say that the expo between China and the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, this year marks the largest scale expo since its foundation four years ago.

Li Jinzao, a senior official in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, says over 1,100 exhibition booths will be set up from October 22nd to 25th.

About six countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam will have individual exhibition sections, plus the number of general exhibition booths is also expected to increase.

The official says the major Southeast Asian exhibits this time will feature mechanic equipment, construction and decoration materials and agricultural and mineral products.

China's vice-minister of commerce Gao Hucheng says he believes the staging of this exhibition will play an important role in fulfilling the free trade agreements between the two sides.

The fifth session of the China-ASEAN Expo will continue to push for the establishment of free trade zones between China and South East Asian nations. It also provides an opportunity for us to tackle the challenges in developing bilateral trade.

At present, ASEAN, a market of over 550 million people, is China's fourth largest trading partner.

Statistics say that the bilateral trade volume has exceeded over 110 billion US dollars during the first half of this year, a nearly 26% increase compared with the same period last year.

This unprecedented growth, which surpassed that of China with the US and Japan, may help ASEAN become China's third largest trading partner in the future.

Source: American Shipper