Asean, China seek to boost trade via confabs, exhibits

NANNING, China – The governments of China and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) including the Philippines, will need to explore ways to cooperate in the convention and exhibition industry to boost trade, an official said.

“To enhance (China-ASEAN) cooperation in the convention and exhibition industry is significant in our joint efforts to accelerate economies and trade,” Huang Yuan, vice director general of the Guangxi International Expositions Bureau and vice secretary general of the China-ASEAN Expo Secretariat said during a seminar for visiting journalists here.

She said that while the Chinese and ASEAN governments are already working together for the conduct of the China-ASEAN Expo held here in September every year, the parties could still look at other forms of cooperation in the convention and exhibition industry.

The China-ASEAN Expo serves as a venue to showcase quality and distinctive products, as well as present potential investment projects, business opportunities and advanced technologies in China and Southeast Asia.

The expo is being organized by the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China with support from the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and of ASEAN countries.

Huang said that apart from working together in organizing the China-ASEAN Expo,  the parties could consider cooperation in the promotion and marketing of other trade shows or events being held in China and the Southeast Asian region.

As the parties cooperate in the promotion of trade shows, she said the governments of the 11 countries could also look at how they could work together to support the participation of more exhibitors and trade visitors from the ASEAN in trade fairs.

The parties, she said, could likewise enhance cooperation through the conduct of business matching programs.

She said greater cooperation in the convention and exhibition industry is seen to support stronger trade ties between China and ASEAN.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China showed that the trade volume between China and ASEAN reached a little over $400 billion in 2012, up from  $362.9 billion in the previous year.

“The China-ASEAN trade target is $500 billion by 2015,” Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China director for the Department of Asian Affairs Li An said in the same event.

He noted that China is currently the ASEAN’s leading trading partner, while the ASEAN is China’s third largest trading partner.

China’s exports to ASEAN include mechanical and electrical products as well as machinery.

Major exports of the ASEAN to China meanwhile, are mechanical and electrical products, palm oil, natural rubber, minerals and tropical sfruits.