Foreign and Military Affairs

Canadian enterprises seek co-op with Nanning

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-14 14:44

NANNING - A delegation of officials and entrepreneurs from Canada's British Columbia and Alberta provinces is in south China's Nanning city to seek cooperation opportunities.

They are holding events to promote trade, investment, education and tourism resources of their home provinces in this capital city of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Attracted by Nanning's ecological environment and its core position in exchange with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the delegation also aims to explore the ASEAN market by using Nanning as a platform, delegation members said.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) on January 1 this year, with an aim to boost trade cooperation and two-way investment between China and the 10 ASEAN nations.

In the CAFTA, the average tariff on goods from the ASEAN countries to China is cut down to 0.1 percent from 9.8 percent. The six original ASEAN members, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, will slash the average tariff on Chinese goods from 12.8 percent to 0.6 percent.

"This is the first time I visit Nanning, but I've known Nanning is playing an important role in business with ASEAN for a long time," said David Wang, a business official with the Alberta province.

Canadian enterprises hoped to explore the Chinese market and then the ASEAN market via cooperation with Nanning, Huang said.