On September 27, the 17th China-ASEAN Expo is scheduled to be held in Nanning, Guangxi from November 27 to 30, 2020. The State Council Information Office held a press conference. Li Chenggang, Assistant Minister of Commerce, Zhang Shaogang, Vice Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and Zhou Hongbo, Vice Chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, introduced China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation and the 17th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit About the situation, and answered reporters' questions.
The 17th China-ASEAN Expo, with the theme of "Building the Belt and Road Together and Prospering the Digital Economy", will simultaneously hold the physical exhibition and the "Eastern Cloud Expo", and the China-ASEAN Expo will be held at the same time in an online and offline manner. Business and investment summits, multiple high-level forums, trade and investment promotion activities, and multi-platform and multi-channel live events will further unblock the "Nanning Channel" and promote China-ASEAN friendly cooperation to a higher level in the joint fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic. New results.
Digital economy lights up China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation
From January to August this year, the total trade value between China and ASEAN reached US$416.55 billion, an increase of 3.8% year-on-year, accounting for 14.6% of China's total foreign trade value. ASEAN has historically become China's largest trading partner, forming a good pattern in which China and ASEAN are each other's largest trading partners.
Li Chenggang introduced that since the beginning of this year, the global new crown pneumonia epidemic has been raging. In the context of increasing downward pressure on the economy of various countries and a sharp contraction of international trade, China and ASEAN countries have overcome the impact of the epidemic, economic and trade cooperation has grown against the trend, bilateral trade volume has continued to grow, and investment The vitality of cooperation is strong. In the first half of this year, China's investment in ASEAN reached 6.23 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 53.1% year-on-year, accounting for 76.7% of China's investment in countries along the "Belt and Road" in the first half of this year. ASEAN's actual foreign investment in China increased by 5.9% year-on-year.
"The new crown pneumonia epidemic has spawned the development of new industries and new business formats. China and ASEAN have accelerated their exploration of digital transformation and development. The digital economy cooperation has become increasingly close. It has become a new highlight of China-ASEAN cooperation." Li Chenggang pointed out that this year is China-ASEAN digital economic cooperation. Many projects such as the "China-ASEAN Information Port" and "China-ASEAN Business Communication Digital Platform" are providing a powerful boost to the digital economic cooperation between China and ASEAN countries.
Expo and summit will "leap to the cloud" for the first time
The 17th China-ASEAN Expo and Business and Investment Summit will open on November 27, 2020. According to Zhou Hongbo, in order to effectively respond to the global epidemic, this expo and summit "leaped to the cloud" for the first time, held in the form of "physical exhibition + online exhibition", with a novel format and numerous highlights.
During the Expo, a special forum on the 10th anniversary of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area will be held simultaneously, and three commemorative activities will be held for the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Myanmar and the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Philippines. This expo will set up the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area cooperation exhibition area for the first time, expand the scale of the land-sea new channel exhibition area, optimize the financial exhibition area around the financial opening portal, continue to set up the ASEAN commodity exhibition area and the "Belt and Road" international exhibition area; hold China (Guangxi) free trade experiment District special promotion meeting; increase the intensity of domestic buyers' invitations, tap the potential of domestic demand, and serve the new development pattern of domestic and international double cycles with the main domestic cycle as the main body. Organize 8 high-level forums on health, international production capacity, technology transfer, information port, agriculture, environment, and finance to further expand the "Nanning Channel". Released the first English blue paper "China's Digital Economy Development and ASEAN Business Opportunities" for the China-ASEAN Expo to deepen the cooperation between China and ASEAN companies in the field of digital economy.
Zhang Shaogang said that this summit will simplify the number of activities and adopt a combination of online and offline methods. With the theme of jointly building the "Belt and Road" and jointly developing the digital economy, the summit invited leaders of China and ASEAN to give online speeches. In addition to the opening conference, this summit will also focus on hosting the roundtable dialogue between the Lao leaders of the subject country and the CEOs of Chinese companies and the China-ASEAN Business Leaders Forum. In addition, according to the epidemic prevention and control situation, three events including the "China-ASEAN Commercial Legal Cooperation Seminar", "China-ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Forum", and "2020 China-ASEAN High-tech Industry Cooperation and Development Conference" will be held in other time periods. .
China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation has entered a golden period
"This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area. In the past 10 years, it has effectively promoted the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment in the region. China and ASEAN have entered a golden period of economic and trade cooperation. The bilateral trade volume has increased from US$292.8 billion in 2010. Increased to 641.5 billion US dollars in 2019." Li Chenggang told reporters.
The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area has become one of the most dynamic free trade areas in the world. As of the end of 2019, the two-way investment between China and ASEAN reached US$223 billion. China has established 25 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones in ASEAN. ASEAN not only became China’s second largest trading partner last year, but also became China’s largest trading partner this year against the trend.
In response to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, on May 29 this year, the two sides issued the "China-ASEAN Economic and Trade Ministers Joint Statement on Strengthening Free Trade Cooperation in Combating the New Crown Pneumonia Epidemic", emphasizing that the two sides should strengthen cooperation, strengthen confidence, and eliminate the epidemic The impact on global and regional trade and investment. Commit to join hands to respond to the epidemic and carry out anti-epidemic cooperation at all levels and in all fields. Fully affirm the important role of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area in promoting the development of trade and investment between the two sides, and promise to keep the market open and create a good trade and investment environment.
The China-ASEAN relationship is the most dynamic and richest in the ASEAN and dialogue partnership. Looking back at the history of China-ASEAN relations, whether it is the Asian financial crisis or the international financial crisis, after each crisis, China-ASEAN relations have become closer, and China-ASEAN cooperation has become stronger. Under the epidemic, China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation has risen against the trend. It is a "vote of confidence" that China and ASEAN cast for each other's development prospects. It is sufficient to demonstrate the extraordinary deep mutual trust between China and ASEAN and fully demonstrate the strong resilience of the bilateral economic and trade relations.
Next year is the 30th anniversary of the establishment of a dialogue partnership between China and ASEAN. Having experienced the test of the epidemic, the two sides have become more deeply aware of the importance of promoting the construction of a China-ASEAN community with a shared future, and will continue to firmly support multilateralism and free trade, further facilitate trade and economic cooperation, and explore new growth points for China-ASEAN cooperation. Active contributions to regional and global economic recovery.
