On 21 February 2017, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of?ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), met with Mr. Wang Sheng, Director-General of the Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (FAO) of Hainan Province.? Ms. Kang Baiying, Deputy Director-General and other officials of the FAO, and Mr. Zhang Xuehai, Deputy Director of the Information and Public Relations Division of ACC attended the meeting.

With a briefing on the exchanges and cooperation between Hainan Province and ASEAN countries, Director-General Wang Sheng mentioned ASEAN countries enjoy close geographic proximity and traditional friendship?with Hainan Province. As a priority of Hainan’s opening-up endeavour, ASEAN has become an important partner of Hainan. In recent years, Hainan has strengthened its links with ASEAN countries by actively participating in ASEAN-China cooperation and Lancang-Mekong cooperation, giving full use of Boao Forum for Asia and Inter-Islands Tourism Policy Forum, and successfully holding the ASEAN-China Governors/Mayors’ Dialogue and Sanya Forum of Lancang-Mekong Tourist Cities Cooperation. All of these activities have enhanced the cooperation between the two sides as well as deepened the friendship between the peoples. That said, there is still great potential of cooperation to be tapped. The FAO, working closely with the line departments of Hainan Province, would strengthen communication with ACC and work to expand the cooperation with ASEAN in tourism services, tropical agriculture, marine economy and other areas by drawing upon the resources and platforms provided by ACC.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping thanked the FAO for its great support to ACC over the years and mentioned the work done by ACC to promote local exchanges and cooperation between ASEAN and China. She said that ACC has been supportive to Hainan Province in strengthening connection with ASEAN. It has co-organized with Hainan the Symposium on International Exchange and Cooperation for Agricultural Products & Access to ASEAN and the ASEAN-China Economic Forum (Boao) with positive outcomes. The year of 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of ASEAN and the ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation. It is hoped that Hainan Province could seize the opportunity to further its cooperation with ASEAN to a higher level. ACC will continuously give its support to the social and economic development of Hainan Province and facilitate its exchanges with ASEAN in various fields.?