China News Service, Nanning, September 4 (Reporter Lin Hao) Yang Chunting, Director of the Department of Commerce of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, stated that Guangxi is willing to work with ASEAN and other parties to expand open exchanges and jointly stimulate innovation and promote Mutually beneficial cooperation to further expand service trade cooperation with ASEAN.

  On September 4, the Guangxi Department of Commerce introduced that during the 2021 China International Service Trade Fair, the China (Guangxi)-ASEAN Service Trade Key Project Promotion Conference will be held in Beijing.

The promotion conference adopted a combination of online and offline methods, attracting nearly a hundred business associations and business representatives, including many ASEAN merchants, to participate in the conference, negotiate and exchange, and reached a batch of preliminary cooperation intentions.

  The theme of this promotion conference is "Highlight the construction of Guangxi's open channels, promote the export of digital industry, logistics, medical, tourism and other service trade, and build an open and cooperative highland for ASEAN", to show the participating enterprises the advantages of Guangxi and ASEAN's service trade development , Especially the results of cooperation in key areas of service trade such as medical care, tourism, digital economy, logistics, etc., to the Guangxi Pilot Free Trade Zone, digital trade and cross-border logistics, the construction of new land-sea corridors in the west, the Fangchenggang International Medical Open Pilot Zone, and China-ASEAN Information The key areas and projects of service trade such as Hong Kong will be explained and recommended.

The picture shows the scene of the China (Guangxi)-ASEAN Service Trade Key Project Promotion Conference, courtesy of Guangxi Department of Commerce

  Zhu Guangyao, the second-level inspector of the Service and Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce of China, said that China's service exports to ASEAN in 2020 will be 53 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 0.3% year-on-year, which is much higher than the overall growth rate of China's service exports.

At present, the number of open ports in Guangxi has increased significantly, reaching 22; the ports have achieved full coverage of five types of ports, including seaports, inland rivers, highways, aviation, and railways, making them a rare full-type port province in the country.

The China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone, Nanning New Land-Sea Corridor, Fangchenggang International Medical Pilot Zone, China-ASEAN Information Port, One-Key Tour ASEAN and other projects promoted are a model of service trade between Guangxi and ASEAN, with unlimited potential for future development .

  Zhu Guangyao also stated that RCEP, as the world’s largest free trade zone, officially set sail, marking that China-ASEAN relations have ushered in a broader development prospect. He hopes that Guangxi will make good use of the platform of the Service Trade Fair to promote the realization of Guangxi and ASEAN’s service trade. develop.

  Zhang Wei, chief expert of the China Association for Trade in Services, said that Guangxi, which is based on the unique location of "one bay with eleven countries and benign interaction between east, middle and west", is currently developing well in service trade. He suggested that Guangxi should enhance investment cooperation with ASEAN members. , To build a regional digital trade cooperation center, to build an open financial portal for ASEAN, and to make good use of the RCEP agreement will bring new opportunities and new impetus to the development of Guangxi's service trade.

  Yang Chunting introduced that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. In the increasingly close China-ASEAN opening cooperation, Guangxi has continuously promoted opening up and cooperation with ASEAN, trade cooperation has continued to deepen, two-way investment has grown rapidly, cross-border logistics has continued to expand, and financial Cooperation continues to expand, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges are getting closer.

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