Guangxi-ASEAN business ties to spurforeign trade

The enriched business ties between SouthChina's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region andthe Association of Southeast Asian Nations willprovide substantial support for China's foreigntrade and supply chain operations in the Asia-Pacific region，said government officials andbusiness experts.

Given its status as the"foothold"of China-ASEAN cooperation，Guangxi is expected to playa vital role in supporting the growth of variouseconomic initiatives，including the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnershipagreement，the Belt and Road Initiative，and theNew International Land-Sea Trade Corridor，theysaid.

Launched in 2017，the New InternationalLand-Sea Trade Corridor is a trade and logisticspassage jointly built by provincial-level regions inwestern China and ASEAN members.

Despite multiple challenges facing theglobal economy，Guangxi's continued efforts tostimulate its real economy and deepencooperation with the ASEAN are expected toyield positive results，said Wang Guowen，director of the center for logistics and supplychain management at the China DevelopmentInstitute，a Shenzhen，Guangdong province-based think tank.

"These efforts will not only alleviatepressure on China's foreign trade this year butalso ensure the smooth operations of industrialand supply chains in the Asia-Pacific region，" hesaid.

To further explore growth opportunities inASEAN markets，Liu Ning，Party secretary ofGuangxi，led a delegation to visit Vietnam，Singapore and Malaysia from March 30 toSaturday.

During the recent visit，the delegation fromGuangxi inked a total of 38 economic and tradedeals with local business partners in Vietnam.With a combined amount of 36.8 billion yuan（$5.35 billion），the agreements involve trade ingoods，industrial cooperation，cross-borderinvestment and other business fields，accordingto data released by Guangxi's regionalgovernment.

Similarly，the delegation signed 30commercial agreements worth a total of 13.1billion yuan in areas such as trade in services，logistics，shipping and port operations，withvarious parties in Singapore.

The delegation's visit to Malaysia wasequally fruitful，resulting in 17 cooperationprojects for economic and trade activities. With atotal amount of 39.2 billion yuan，these businessdeals cover the trade and production ofnonferrous and recycled metals，cross-borderlogistics operations and cold chain，green energydevelopment and new materials forenvironmental protection.

"Guangxi is the forefront and window ofChina's opening-up and cooperation with ASEANand RCEP countries，"said Liu."We are willing towork with all related parties to seizeopportunities to develop the Belt and RoadInitiative，advance preparations for the furtherenhancement of the ASEAN-China Free TradeArea （ACFTA 3.0），and promote the in-depthimplementation of the RCEP."

The official said that Guangxi will rely onplatforms such as the China-ASEAN Expo andthe New International Land-Sea Trade Corridorto further deepen cooperation in regionalconnectivity，economic and trade investment，industrial development and cultural exchangeswith ASEAN countries to achieve win-win results.

Ong Tze Guan，chairman of the SingaporeChamber of Commerce and Industry in China，believes that China and Singapore will benefitfrom the multiplier effects brought by improvedoverall economic，trade and investment relationsin the Asia-Pacific region.

As an important transit point in the NewInternational Land-Sea Trade Corridor，morethan 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units ofcontainers were handled by Guangxi's Beibu GulfPort in the first quarter of this year，up 14.7percent year-on-year，data from the localgovernment showed.

The 20th China-ASEAN Expo，which will beheld in September in Nanning，Guangxi'sregional capital，is expected to host commercialevents and a series of high-level forums tocomprehensively upgrade the high-leveldialogue mechanism，and economic and tradeeffectiveness，said the Guangxi government.

Source：China Daily