Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo arrived in Nanning
on Sunday to attend a China-ASEAN summit slated for Monday in
Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous
Region.
Arroyo headed a huge delegation consisting of nearly 200
officials and businessmen.
According to the agenda, She will also attend the third
China-ASEAN Expo and address the opening ceremony of the third
China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.
Arroyo visited east China's Fujian and Jiangxi provinces and
Guilin, a scenic site in Guangxi, before her arrival here.
The China-ASEAN Summit is to mark the 15th anniversary of the
China-ASEAN dialogue relations. Premier Wen Jiabao and leaders from
ASEAN countries will attend the summit. Wen will hold bilateral
meetings with the ASEAN leaders respectively on the sidelines of
the summit.
According to Chinese official statistics, China-ASEAN bilateral
trade grew 20 percent annually over the past 15 years, reaching
US$130 billion last year, 15 times the figure in 1991.
The trade between China and the Philippines hit US$17.6 billion
in 2005, jumping over thirty percent from a year earlier, making
China the fourth largest trading partner of the Philippines.
(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2006)
