Transportation ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and China pledged to work together for closer port
cooperation at a forum on Sunday.
The two-day China-ASEAN Port Development and Cooperation Forum,
themed "strengthening regional cooperation and promoting common
development", is a key event of the ongoing Fourth China-ASEAN Expo
(CAEXPO) held in Nanning of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,
south China.
Some 450 corporate executives of port administration, shipping,
logistics, shipbuilding and repair, port equipment manufacturing,
harbor investors, and experts and scholars met at the forum to
exchange views on the impact of the international shipping industry
on regional port cooperation and logistics, as well as the
development strategy and financing of ports and port cities.
A joint declaration on China-ASEAN port development and
cooperation is likely to be passed at the forum, along with a study
report on cooperation among ports in the Pan Beibu Gulf Rim, an
area surrounded by south China's Guangdong and Hainan provinces and
Guangxi, as well as six ASEAN members. A number of port investment
contracts will also be signed before the forum closes on
Monday.
To underline the theme, a large model of an ocean liner has been
created in the open-air plaza outside the international exhibition
center in Nanning, the permanent venue of CAEXPO.
"Last year alone, US$100 billion of goods in the China-ASIAN
bilateral trade are handled via ports and shipping, that's more
than half of the total trade volume," Li said at the forum.
Bilateral trade between the two sides reached US$160.8 billion
in 2006, more than twenty-folded the amount in 1991.
Statistics show that by the end of last year, China has more
than 1,400 ports, handling 5.57 billion tons of cargo throughputs
in 2006.
"Cooperation between China and the ASIAN ports is in the best
time in history," Li said.
China has signed shipping agreements with Vietnam, Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The content of a shipping
agreement between China and the ASIAN has been basically approved
by two sides, according to the minister.
Sun Chanthol, transportation minister of Cambodia, said that the
agreement is expected to be inked at the 6th China-ASIAN
Transportation Ministers Meeting to be held in Singapore early
November.
Nine of the 10-nation ASEAN, excluding Laos, are maritime
countries. Port economies play an important role in Singapore, the
Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Vietnam.
Guangxi has poured nearly 10 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) to
build infrastructure and improve service capacity of ports along
the Beibu Gulf. It is also involved in many cooperative programs
with ports in ASEAN countries.
The port forum is one of the nine forums or conferences held
during this year's CAEXPO, covering a wide range of topics
including electric power development, poverty reduction, and
product quality supervision.
The ASEAN, established on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok, now groups
Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia,
Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia.
Ports and shipping have become the important vessel for the
friendly cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASIAN), said Chinese Transportation Minister Li
Shenglin here on Sunday.
(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2007)
