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China-ASEAN Expo has formula for success 

By Wang Xin (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-21 09:47

From the first session in 2004, Japan and South Korea were involved in the event. Moreover, the US and European buyers have also visited previous sessions, including retail giant Wal-mart.

This year five trade delegations from France, Russia, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea are expected to participate at the event.

To increase CAEXPO's global influence, organizers will introduce an Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) roundtable to Nanning.

The roundtable for investment promotional agencies, as part of ASEM that will be held in Beijing from Oct 24 to 25, will take place concurrently with the Nanning expo. Integrating such a high-end conference into the expo's symposium and forum list reflects CAEXPO's openness, organizers said.

Focus on info-tech

In addition to the roundtable, 15 symposiums and forums will take place during the expo. Among them, three are about information communication technology (ICT), the main theme of this year's expo.

During the fifth expo, China and ASEAN are expected to sign a memorandum on jointly building an information network, set up a cooperative framework for Internet safety and release a guidebook for telecommunication services common to both sides.

Since 2007, CAEXPO has selected one of the 10 priority cooperative sectors that China and ASEAN are advancing as the main theme of each year.

Accordingly, the opening ceremony, exhibition arrangements and high-end forums showcase these themes.

This year, the 11 cities presented in the pavilion Cities of Charm all boast of their relatively advanced information industries. Suzhou in Jiangsu province is China's representative.

An expo that works

Originally proposed by Premier Wen Jiabao, CAEXPO started in 2004.

During the past four sessions, the expo has offered a total of 12,869 exhibition booths and attracted 123,500 participants. The total trade volume registered is $4.92 billion.

To date, 37 Chinese and ASEAN chambers of commerce and trade associations have established long-term cooperative relations with the expo.

Over the past four years, CAEXPO has risen to become one of the leading multinational expos, according to organizers, with the number of participants rising to 42,000 in 2007, from 18,000 four years ago.

The China-ASEAN Expo is highly valued not only as a fruitful business event but also as an important multilateral campaign by the countries involved, organizers stressed. Through a series of forums and conferences held during the expo, China and ASEAN have improved the region.

Exhibition fee exemptions

Sichuan exhibitors will be exempted from exhibition fees totaling more than 350,000 yuan ($51,000) for participating in the fifth China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO), according to organizers.

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