The city of Nanning in Guangxi province is hosting the 13^th China-ASEAN Expo as well as the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.

The Expo has attracted over 2,500 companies from 29 countries. It seeks to boost economic and trade relationship between ASEAN countries. The expo is themed "Jointly building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Forging an Even Closer China-ASEAN Community of Common Destiny."

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The expo started with an opening address from Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. "Among ASEANs' dialogue partners, China was the first to establish a strategic partnership with ASEAN and has established a cooperative partnership with each and every ASEAN member states," he said.

The expo includes 5,800 booths - up by 12,000 from the last event. According to Business Standard, the expo also hosts more than 30 forums. These forums are meant to inspire cooperation between China and ASEAN in various areas including tourism, transport, culture and education. ASEAN are China's third-largest trading partner while China is ASEAN's largest customer.

About 29 countries (including the 10 ASEAN members) are participating in the expo. Other countries such as India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan are also participating in the expo. China is looking to strengthen its bilateral ties with ASEAN. During his opening speech, Zhang proposed that both the parties should work towards implementing the 2+7 Cooperation Framework for promoting inclusive development.

The ASEAN region presents a market with over 600 million people and is an attractive market for information technology and power businesses.  

TagsNanning, ASEAN, Zhang Gaoli, China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit