The first China-ASEAN Expo concluded on Saturday in Nanning, capital of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with the signing of millions of US dollars contracts.

During the four-day Expo, Chinese and foreign companies signed 129 contracts worth nearly US$5 billion and Chinese domestic investors inked 102 contracts worth 47.5 billion yuan (about US$5.75 billion) with their domestic partners.

The total contractual investment includes US$493 million from Chinese investors to overseas projects, according to Li Jinzao, deputy director of the organizing committee.

The Expo attracted 18,000 Chinese and overseas businessmen and over 300,000 visitors from home and abroad, he said, noting that a total of 1,505 companies participated in the exhibition, including 516 overseas enterprise.

Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Laotian Prime Minister Boungnang Vorachit and Myanmar Prime Minister Soe Win presented the Expo opening ceremony and attended various of activities.

The Expo, along with a China-ASEAN investment summit and promotions, covers sectors such as machinery, electronic home appliance, information technology, automobile, construction material, agricultural products, medicine and textile.

The Expo was a "great success" and "paved the way for the building of ASEAN-China free trade area," said Pengiran Mashor Pengiran Ahmad, deputy secretary-general of the ASEAN Secretariat.

China and ASEAN was set to forge free trade area (FTA) in 2010,which will be the world's third largest FTA with a 1.7-billion population, 2-trillion-US-dollars gross domestic product and 1.2-trillion-US-dollars trade volume, following the European Union and North American Free Trade Agreement.

Initiated by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in 2003, the China-ASEAN Expo was scheduled to be held in Nanning annually, in a bid to promote the common prosperity of the two sides.

(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2004)