On 29 December 2016, ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) Secretary-General H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping had a meeting with representatives of government sectors of Shandong province, to exchange views on promoting Shandong-ASEAN cooperation. Ms. Li Rong, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shandong Provincial People’s Government hosted the meeting. Representatives of government sectors including Shandong Sub-Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Shandong Department of Ocean and Fishery, Shandong Tourism Development Commission, Shandong Department of Commerce, Shandong Department of Culture, Shandong Department of Education and Mr. Zhang Xuehai, Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations Division of ACC attended the meeting.

Ms. Li Rong welcomed SG Yang Xiuping’s visit to Shandong and made a brief introduction on Shandong’s economic and social development. She said that Shandong highly values and actively promotes its cooperation with ASEAN. With the continuous efforts, Shandong-ASEAN economic relations have been strengthened, people-to-people exchanges intensified and the East Asia Marine Cooperation Platform in Qingdao and East Asia Livestock Products Exchange in Weifang were established to facilitate deepening Shandong-ASEAN cooperation. ASEAN is becoming a new key area for Shandong’s international cooperation. The Foreign Affairs Office was looking forward to further strengthening coordination with ACC, and through the channel of ACC, to enable Shandong to play a bigger role in the “Belt and Road” initiative and ASEAN-China cooperation.

SG Yang Xiuping introduced the achievements of ASEAN-China functional cooperation during the 25 years since the establishment of dialogue relations, as well as ACC’s efforts in facilitating the local governments’ cooperation of both sides. She said that as the “Belt and Road” Initiative, ASEAN Community Building and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation have progressed steadily, ASEAN-China relations are entering into a broader prospects of cooperation. 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of ASEAN and was designated as ASEAN-China Tourism Cooperation Year, ASEAN and China will hold a series of activities, which will present new opportunities to ASEAN-China functional cooperation. Shandong is one of China’s most developed provinces, and had unique advantages in international production capacity cooperation, culture, tourism, etc. ACC always supports Shandong’s cooperation with ASEAN, and would like to further strengthen its coordination with Shandong by innovating cooperation mode, broadening cooperation areas, with an aim to achieve win-win results and bring greater benefits to the people.

The representatives introduced their own areas’ cooperation with ASEAN respectively, and rendered suggestions on ways and means to strengthen more cooperation with ACC. Shandong Department of Commerce said that ASEAN is the fourth biggest trading partner of Shandong. The economic and trade cooperation between Shandong and ASEAN holds great potential. It is hoped that ACC could provide more information on the policies of ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, to help Shandong enterprises further broaden their cooperation with ASEAN. Shandong Department of Ocean and Fishery thanked ACC for its support for the establishment of East Asia Marine Cooperation Platform, and expected that ACC would continue to attend relevant activities. Shandong Sub-Council for the Promotion of International Trade hoped for cooperation with ACC to co-organize the “Go into ASEAN” activity, which has been held for quite a few years by the Sub-Council, to match Shandong’s advantageous industries with ASEAN. The Department of Culture said that with the profound cultural heritage, Shandong has developed unique cultural projects such as “Confucius Cultural Festival”. They hoped to promote Shandong culture to ASEAN countries through the channel of ACC. Shandong Tourism Development Commission expected to actively take part in ASEAN-China Tourism Cooperation Year by combining with the 600 years anniversary of the King Sulu’s first visit to China, and expected to have ACC’s support and assistance. Shandong Department of Education said that as a big education province, Shandong attaches great importance to education. They would like to enhance coordination with ACC, to make joint efforts to promote Shandong-ASEAN education cooperation.

SG Yang Xiuping had an active discussion with the representatives on related topics.