China-ASEAN Expo concludes; billions in deals

The 17th China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit concluded on Monday in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

On top of more than 150 trade and investment promotion activities online and offline, a total of 86 investment projects worth 263.87 billion yuan ($40 billion) were signed at the four-day event, an annual increase of 43.6 percent, according to Wang Lei, secretary-general of the CAEXPO secretariat.

More than 85 percent of the investment projects were in the fields of health, big data, logistics, new manufacturing, new materials, new energy and finance.

The next expo is tentatively set for Sept 10 to 13 in 2021, with Laos continuing as the country of honor and Pakistan the special partner country.

Initiated in 2004, the expo is an important platform to promote trade and bilateral relations between China and ASEAN countries.