Chinese and Thai officials vowed on Sunday to facilitate trade and economic ties as China and its Southeast Asian neighbors mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the China-ASEAN dialogue relationship, and the first anniversary of the establishment of the China-ASEAN free trade area.

Guangxi, the only Chinese region connected to ASEAN by both land and sea, will take new measures to boost all-round trade and investment cooperation with Thailand, an important country in ASEAN, said Xiong Jiajun, deputy director of the department of commerce of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

He made the remarks while addressing an investment seminar sponsored by the Thailand Board of Investment in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi, on the sidelines of the eighth China-ASEAN expo.

The Thailand Board of Investment is a government agency under the Ministry of Industry of Thailand. Traditionally, the prime minister of Thailand is chairman of the investment agency.

Economic ties between China and Thailand have developed rapidly since Guangxi became the permanent host of the China-ASEAN Expo, Xiong said.

The bilateral trade volume between Guangxi and Thailand reached $290 million in 2010. This figure represents a year-on-year growth of 82.6 percent from the previous year and was 3.54 times the 2006 level, according to Xiong.

By the end of 2010 Thailand had invested in 119 projects in Guangxi, with a total value of $306 million, becoming the country in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) with the most investment in Guangxi.

The Mekong River flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea. It plays a crucial role in trade and transport throughout the GMS countries, namely China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Guangxi will enhance exchanges with ASEAN in investment, trade, and industries, thus creating huge opportunities for China-Thailand cooperation, he said.

The government of Guangxi will make full use of preferential policies available within the China-ASEAN free-trade area to facilitate trade and investment between China and Thailand under the framework of GMS.

Guangxi will take active measures to enhance cooperation on agriculture, tourism, and infrastructure. For example, it will increase fruit and rice imports to grow bilateral trade with Thailand.

Furthermore, Guangxi will strengthen transportation cooperation including railways and the Nanning-Hanoi-Vientiane-Bangkok high-grade highways to promote the development of the Nanning-Bangkok economic corridor.

Officials from the Thailand Board of Investment, which has offices in China's Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, echoed the Chinese officials' call to cement China-Thailand trade and investment.

Bussarakum Sriratana, a division chief of Thailand Board of Investment, said Thailand will provide high-quality services including labor, visas and information consulting for investors from China, the No 2 source of imports for Thailand in 2010.