Conference strengthens ties between GBA, ASEAN

The China-ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Economic and Trade Cooperation Fair, which kicked off in Zhaoqing, Guangdong province, on Thursday builds a bridge and platform to expand ties between the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, organizers said.

Zhang Hua, director of China International Youth Exchange Center, said his center has always attached great importance to exchanges and cooperation with ASEAN countries, and especially in recent years has continuously strengthened the construction of the Secretariat of the China-ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Association and worked with the ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Council to improve the cooperation and consultation mechanism to build a stage for deepening practical cooperation and exchanges among young entrepreneurs.

He urged entrepreneurs from China and ASEAN to seize the opportunity to expand their mutually beneficial cooperation and work together to promote regional economic growth and inject more youthful energy into building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future in the months to come.

Zhang Aijun, Party secretary of Zhaoqing, said the city government would take the special fair as an opportunity to comprehensively strengthen exchanges and cooperation with ASEAN countries and try to create more development opportunities for young entrepreneurs from both sides.

He said he hoped young entrepreneurs from China and ASEAN would further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in multiple industries, including new energy, electronic information and modern agriculture, to share development dividends and join hands to promote regional economic prosperity and development.

Ben Perkasa Drajat, the Indonesian consul in Guangzhou, said China is an important strategic partner of ASEAN, and as the largest economy in ASEAN, Indonesia's close relation and cooperation with China has continuously been improving and upgrading in recent years.

Entrepreneurs are an important force for a country's development and economic growth, he said.

He said Indonesia is expecting to deepen cooperation with China to jointly create a favorable business and investment environment for entrepreneurs from both sides and continuously inject new momentum into practical economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

More than 300 officials, consuls general, business executives and entrepreneurs from China and ASEAN attended the two-day event in Zhaoqing, a GBA city in western Guangdong.

In addition to keynote speeches, promotions and business negotiations, attendees also visited local industrial development zones, companies and manufacturing bases to explore cooperation opportunities during the event.

According to statistics released by Guangzhou Customs on Thursday, seven prefecture-level cities Guangzhou Customs supervises in Guangdong province reached a foreign volume of 166.27 billion yuan ($23.75 billion) with ASEAN in the first eight months of the year, up 21.7 percent year-on-year, making ASEAN the largest trading partner of the southern province.