| Azaraimy HH |
WITH a variety of events scheduled for four days, the 14th China-Asean Expo (CAEXPO) this year will offer a richer and diverse experience, adding new dimensions to the CAEXPO Country of Honour Mechanism.
This year marks the beginning of the second round of implementation of the Country of Honour mechanism, and Brunei Darussalam takes the honour once again after adorning the position in 2007.
The 14th CAEXPO and 14th China-Asean Business and Investment Summit (CABIS) will be held at the Nanning International Convention and Exhibition Centre (NICEC), the People’s Republic of China.
In a press conference yesterday, Gao Feng, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce of China, said that before the opening ceremony of CAEXPO and CABIS, a cultural show will be presented by an art troupe from Brunei.
On the list of events for Brunei, apart from the opening ceremonies of the Pavilion of City of Charm and the Brunei Commodity Pavilion, there will be a tourism and investment promotion conference, the Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor Cooperation Forum and trade promotion events.
These are all aimed at deepening the cooperation between China and Brunei in fields such as energy, infrastructure, small and medium enterprise (SME) development, agriculture, Halal food, education, culture and tourism.
Also speaking to journalists was Yang Yanyn, Vice-Secretary-General of the CAEXPO Secretariat.
The officials revealed that the 14th CAEXPO has attracted a total of 2,709 exhibiting enterprises, 1.5 per cent more participation than the previous session. There are also more trade visitors and buying missions.
According to them, 95 buying missions and investor delegations have registered, an increase of 6.7 per cent compared to last year.
Over 10,000 trade visitors are expected to participate in the business matching events on the sidelines.
Some 4,000 buyers representing the 10 Asean member countries, Europe, the United States, Latin America, Middle East, South Asia and Africa will also take advantage of the expo.
For the first time, the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, the European American Chamber of Commerce, the British Consulate-General in Guangzhou and Kazakhstan will gather their buying missions at the CAEXPO and host promotion conferences as well as sourcing meetings for industry players.
Gao Feng added that this year marks the 50th anniversary of Asean and the China-Asean Year of Tourism Cooperation, and it is a crucial year to build the Belt and Road.
Featuring the theme of ‘Building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Promoting Regional Economic Integration through Tourism’, the 14th CAEXPO and the CABIS will arrange a series of events.
These include high-level dialogues, exhibitions and forums aimed at promoting synergy and complementarities between development strategies, deepening cooperation in a wider range of fields, and moving forward friendly cooperation between China and Asean.
The 14th CAEXPO also features a larger exhibition space.
The NICEC, the main venue of the 14th CAEXPO, covers a total exhibition area of 124,000 square metres, including a new 14,000-square-metre hall.
A total of 6,600 booths have been set up at the venue.
Asean member countries and other foreign countries will use an exhibition area of 33,000 square metres.
Eight Asean member countries, including Brunei, have set up their commodity pavilions.
For the first time, the CAEXPO has arranged special display zones for smart manufacturing, equipment and environmental protection.
The Belt and Road Exhibition will focus on distinctive products from countries along the routes, including Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan.
The 14th CAEXPO will also feature an exhibition on the Chinese silk industry.
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