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CAEXPO to provide unique insight on China
By Huo Yan and Huang Feifei (China Daily Guangxi Bureau)
Updated: 2009-04-10 16:51

The sixth annual China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) will showcase a slew of attractive products and appliances, displaying some of China's achievements to the world. Opening in October in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, electronics, handicrafts, engineering machines/equipment, food processing/packing machines, power facilities and auto parts will be on display.

As a State-level international fair in cooperation with the China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Free Trade Area, the annual trade event provides a unique outlook on the achievements of China's opening-up to the outside world, especially in cooperative relations with ten ASEAN member countries, said Vice-Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng at a preparatory meeting this week.

Amid the worldwide economic slowdown, Gao said Ministry of Commerce of China will continue to sponsor the sixth CAEXPO, asking competent commerce authorities of all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions to organize their enterprises and join.

"ASEAN is a key area for China's strategy of market diversification and for enterprises to enter the global market. Although influenced by the financial crisis, bilateral trade volume between China and ASEAN still maintained rapid growth in 2008. Mutual investment reached $60 billion, and CAEXPO has played an important role in these achievements," Gao said.

According to Zheng Junjian, Secretary-General of the secretariat for CAEXPO and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, organizers of CAEXPO have taken effective measures to expand business opportunities for enterprises. For instanceļ¼Œthe CAEXPO was extended from the initially planned four days to five, and scale of the exhibitions was expanded from 3,300 booths to 4,000. A professional exhibition will also be held for technical exchanges.

Guangxi has hosted five sessions of CAEXPO so far, showcasing aspects such as commodity trade, investment negotiation, service trade, business and investment forums, cultural exchange and other cooperation agreements.

In the past five years, 29 state leaders and more than 800 ministerial-level officials have taken part in the event.

The expo has set up a platform for establishing close links among China, ASEAN members and other countries and regions, and provided more trade opportunities. Through CAEXPO, Guangxi enables the people of China and ASEAN to get to know each other better, while showcasing its own unique charms to the world.