China-ASEAN Expo expected to be a hit

The 7th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO), which is the first one since the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) was officially established on January 1, 2010, will strengthen the relationship between the two sides and improve their trade relationships.

The annual exhibition will take place in Nanning, Guangxi, China from October 20-24, featuring 4,000 booths of Chinese and ASEAN businesses. It comprises the CAFTA Achievement Exhibition, activities on the theme of the CAEXPO Country of Honour: Indonesia, and other promotional campaigns, along with a series of high-level international forums/conferences on finance, electric power, agriculture and brand management.

State and government leaders from China and the ASEAN countries signed the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between China and ASEAN at the 6th China-ASEAN Summit held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November, 2002, jointly launching the creation of the CAFTA. When it was completed on January 1, 2010, CAFTA became the largest FTA of developing countries, boasting 1.9 billion consumers, a combined GDP of nearly US$6 trillion, and a total trade volume of US$4.5 trillion.

In the first six months of 2010, the total trade volume between China and ASEAN reached US$136.5 billion. The value of China’s imports was US$71.9 billion, increasing by 64 percent compared to the same period last year, and its exports reached US$64.6 billion, up 45 percent against 2009. This is an optimistic sign of trade growth between the two sides since the CAFTA was officially established.

There are no figures for other areas such as investment and tourism, however, considering the figures of the 2003-2009 period, the CAFTA promises to set new records.

During 2003-2009, the Southeast Asia invested US$2.93-4.68 billion in China. And China invested US$0.23-3 billion in the region, showing an increase of 13 times.

In 2009 alone, the Chinese Government reduced or suspended tariffs on many ASEAN exports to China with a total value of CNY6.1 billion. China invested mainly in ASEAN arts and handicrafts, services, and the agricultural sector.

The ten ASEAN countries also became attractive tourist destinations for Chinese citizens. In particular, the number of Chinese visitors to ASEAN in 2003 was 1,910,000, and increased to 4,500,000 in 2009.

At the 6th China-ASEAN Expo in 2009, total trade value was nearly US$1.7 billion, and the value is expected to set a new record at this year’s Expo. – VOV

Tags: China ASEAN Expo

Posted by VBN on Oct 18 2010. Filed under HEADLINES, Int'l Cooperation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry