The Fifth China-ASEAN Expo will be held during Oct. 20-23 next
year in its permanent venue of Nanning, capital of the Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China, the organizing committee
said here Wednesay.
"We are considering putting cooperation in the electronic
information industry as the theme of the next exposition," said Li
Jinzao, deputy director of the organizing committee.
The next exposition will focus on sustainable development and
its results so as to consolidate the platform of China-ASEAN Expo
for further cooperation between China and Southeast Asian
countries, Li told a press conference at the end of the Fourth
China-ASEAN Expo.
"We will pay more attention to major issues concerning social
and economic development in China and Southeast Asian countries,
such as poverty reduction and food safety, and list them as themes
for discussions at forums to be held during the exposition," he
said.
"We will continue to improve our services for the holding of the
exposition for a win-win result of both China and ASEAN member
countries," Li added.
The China-ASEAN Expo is an annual gathering of political and
business leaders as well as experts to discuss major issues
concerning the development in the region covering China and the ten
member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN). Business people from both China and the Southeast Asian
countries also come on the occasion for make their fortune.
The ASEAN regional bloc groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar
and Cambodia.
At the just concluded four-day exposition, Chinese and Southeast
Asian businesses signed agreements on investment a total of 6.15
billion U.S. dollars on machinery, building materials, consumer
electronics, farm produce, foodstuffs and other projects.
This figure represented a 5.28 percent increase from the
previous China-ASEAN Expo. Agreements on a total of 182
international economic cooperation contracts were signed. Traders
from China and ASEAN countries also signed 1.42 billion dollars
worth of trade contracts, up 12.1 percent year on year.
According to Li, also vice chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region, the number of Chinese and ASEAN companies and
institutions participated in the exposition increased 4.9 percent
to 1908.
(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2007)
