On 24 April 2017, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), met with Mr. Ding Xiaosheng, Member of Standing Committee of Shangrao Municipal Party Committee, and Director-General of Publicity Department of Shangrao Municipal Party Committee. Mr. Lin Dajian, Director of International Publicity Division of Publicity Department of Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, Mme. Miao Yuhui, Director of International Communication Office of Shangrao Municipal Party Committee, and Mr. Zhang Xuehai, Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations Division of ACC, attended the meeting.

Director-General Ding made a briefing on Shangrao’s history, culture and socio-economic development. He said that keeping to its path of “prospering the city through industries”, Shangrao focuses on photovoltaic industry, optical industry and automobile industry, and coordinate its development in modern agriculture and service industry, through which Shangrao achieved prominent socio-economic development. Shangrao also possesses vast potential of tourism due to its beautiful landscapes, as a result of which, the city is pushing forward the building of beautiful villages. In 2016, the city accommodated 120 million tourists which earned RMB 112.6 billion revenue. Attaching great importance to opening to the world, he expected to enhance connections of Shangrao with ASEAN countries, and explore the deepening of practical cooperation and friendly exchanges. He hoped the visit could offer a special opportunity for Shangrao to strengthen mutual understandings between the people of Shangrao and ASEAN, and lay a solid foundation for future cooperation. He looked forward to the continuous support and assistance of ACC.

Secretary-General Yang commended the achievements of Shangrao’s socio-economic development, and expressed thanks for the efforts Shanghai made to host the reporting trip. She outlined the mandate and works of ACC, and opined that it is one of ACC’s focuses to facilitate exchanges between China and ASEAN countries’ cities and provinces. Shangrao possesses special industrial features that constitute good conditions for enhancing exchanges and cooperation between both sides. This year marks the 50th anniversary of ASEAN and the Year of China ASEAN Tourism Cooperation. ACC would like to conduct activities encompassing such two themes in which ACC sincerely welcomes Shangrao to participate. Finally, she noted that ACC would continue to serve as a bridge linking Shangrao and Jiangxi province with ASEAN in exchanges and cooperation so as to achieve common development.