The 2022 Malaysia-China Enterprise Matchmaking Conference is launched at Nanning sub-venue on Sept 13. Malaysia is Guest of Honor country at this year’s China-ASEAN Expo, or CAEXPO. (TAO CHANGSHUN / FOR CHINA DAILY)

The 19th China-ASEAN Expo, or CAEXPO, and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit attract exhibitors and participants from all member economies of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, free-trade pact to Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region

Cai Lixin, executive vice-chairperson of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, said 21 high-level forums and more than 80 economic and trade promotion activities will be held during the expo from Sept 16 to 19.

Wei Zhaohui, secretary-general of the CAEXPO Secretariat, said that overseas exhibitors ordered approximately 30 percent of the exhibition areas, a remarkable increase in the total number of booths and overall exhibition scale compared with the previous two expos. 

Traditional exhibitors also come from South and West Asia as well as from countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

On the theme of sharing new opportunities of the RCEP and jointly advancing version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the events will showcase new achievements and highlights of economic and trade cooperation between the two, Li Fei, assistant minister of commerce, said.

Covering an area of 102,000 square meters, this year’s exhibition for the first time will feature several sections on new energy vehicles, culture and tourism, healthcare and cross-border e-commerce.

More than 300 Fortune Global 500, China’s Top 500 Enterprises, and industry-leading businesses have confirmed their attendance. 

Zhang Shaogang, vice-chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said major events include a roundtable dialogue involving the state leader of Malaysia and CEOs of Chinese enterprises on topics such as energy, finance, infrastructure, industrial parks, and electronic information, the China-ASEAN business leaders forum and special dialogue on RCEP cooperation and the China-ASEAN commercial law cooperation forum.

Malaysia is Guest of Honor country at the 19th CAEXPO. 

As such it hosted the three-day online 2022 Malaysia-China Enterprise Matchmaking Conference on Sept 13, with on-site sub-venues in cities including Nanning and Kuala Lumpur.

More than 300 one-on-one matchmaking talks were held between Chinese and Malaysian enterprises spanning a variety of sectors including food, medicine, machinery, as well as building materials.

Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz, chief executive officer of Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, noted that Malaysia is expected to deepen cooperation with China in trade, investment, and digital economy. 

He said that further cooperation between the two countries on economy and trade will be promoted under the RCEP framework.

Malaysian entrepreneurs are looking forward to finding more cooperation partners and business opportunities in the areas of food, big health cultural tourism, and digital economy, said Aziz. 

Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing said that the Sino-Malaysian relationship has developed rapidly in recent years and that fruitful results have been achieved in the areas of industrial parks, infrastructure, as well as equipment manufacturing.

Lim Ban Hong, deputy minister of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Malaysia), spoke highly of the future of Sino-Malaysian cooperation and expressed hope that the implementation of the RCEP will accelerate the integrated development of the regional economy and bring more opportunities to Malaysian enterprises.

South Korea is the special cooperation partner of the 19th CAEXPO and will hold the opening ceremony of its exhibition pavilion, with a live stream. Fifty South Korean enterprises will showcase their wares during the exhibition, bringing with them their distinctive array of beauty cosmetics.

High-level forums at this year’s CAEXPO will cover five more areas, including the peaceful use of nuclear technology and the blue economy, to promote cooperation in additional fields between China and ASEAN countries.

A 3,900-square-meter exhibition on advanced technologies are open during the 10th Forum on China-ASEAN Technology Transfer and Collaborative Innovation, which was opened both virtually and onsite in Nanning on Sept 15 and lasts till Sept 19.

The Ministry of Science and Technology and the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region are hosting the forum. 

It is organized by the Department of Science and Technology of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the China-ASEAN Technology Transfer Center. The subject of this year’s forum is “digital technology + big health”.

It is expected that 105 exhibitors will bring 274 new technologies, products, business models, and expected outcomes that are exclusively achieved through sci-tech innovation and cooperation with ASEAN, covering areas of the digital economy, big data application, biomedical health care, modern agriculture, renewable energy, and environmental protection. 

Debut products such as the new electric vehicles made by Dongfeng Motor and Zhu Hai Yun vessel, China’s first intelligent unmanned surface ship by Yunzhou Technology, will debut at the 19th CAEXPO.

The Ministry of Science and Technology is unveiling the China-ASEAN sci-tech innovation upgrading project in Nanning, which is seen as essential to increasing innovation and sci-tech cooperation between China and the ASEAN members.

The ministry is expected to launch 1,000 selected technologies for the first time at this year’s event. 

Also, the forum will host the first international innovation and entrepreneurship competition organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology and ASEAN. 

China has remained ASEAN’s largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years. During the first seven months of this year, their trade with each other surged 13.1 percent year-on-year to $544.9 billion, accounting for 15 percent of China’s total foreign trade during the period.

As of the end of July, bilateral investment between China and ASEAN had exceeded $340 billion, while the turnover of Chinese enterprises from project contracts in ASEAN countries exceeded $380 billion.

Contact the writers at zhangli@chinadaily.com.cn