On 13 September 2017, China-ASEAN Port Cities Cooperation Network Work Conference themed “Promoting China-ASEAN Port Cities Cooperation & Sharing Prosperous Development of the Maritime Silk Road” was successfully held in Nanning. H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), Dato Seri Paduka Dr. Mohd Amin Liew Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Finance of Brunei Darussalam, Mr. Zhang Xiaoqin, Vice Chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Mr. Lee Yi Shyan, Chairman of Business China, Tan Sri Kong Cho Ha, Chairman of Port of Klang Authority, Kong Vitanak, Vice Governor of Sihanoukville province, Cambodia, and representatives from governments of China and ASEAN Member States, international organizations, enterprises, financial institutions, academic institutions, altogether over 100 participants, attended the event.
Vice Chairman Zhang Xiaoqin delivered remarks that China-ASEAN Port Cities Cooperation Network focuses on maritime connectivity through alignment with the Belt and Road Initiative and Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, which has become a new platform for ASEAN-China cooperation. For now, the building of the network has moved from preliminary stage to development stage and efforts should be focused on the following aspects: First, improving the regular working mechanism of the network; second, attracting more partners to join the network; third, strengthening port cities’ capacity of investment and finance; fourth, facilitating multi-model freight; fifth, enhancing cooperation between industries near the ports; sixth, pushing forward the building of intelligent port and information-sharing platform; seventh, promoting people-to-people and tourism cooperation; eighth, building flagship projects through alignment with existing mechanisms.
Dato Seri Paduka Dr Mohd Amin Liew Abdullah stated that 90% of global trade is made through maritime routes, as a result of which, port cities cooperation is significant for enhancing trade exchanges. Both ASEAN and China emphasized the importance of connectivity in its own development strategies, which is in line with the goal of Port Cities Cooperation Network. The government of Brunei Darussalam attaches great important to the building of port cities, and is pushing forward the operational efficiency of ports, by means of which, the government wishes to facilitate the development of industries of trade, logistics and so on. Muara Port is a big project under the cooperation between Brunei Darussalam and Guangxi. He expected both sides could together strive for building it into a flagship project of ASEAN-China maritime connectivity.
Chairman Lee Yi Shyan said that Business China is a non-governmental, non-profit organization dedicating itself to bridging ASEAN and China for two-way trade and cultural exchanges. Port cities cooperation is beneficial not only for regional integration, but also for sharing benefits among countries along the Belt and Road. He proposed such several suggestions: first, expediting working mechanism of the network in order to deepen the cooperation; second, enhancing infrastructure building of maritime connectivity; third, strengthening development of human resources and setting up regular training and exchange mechanisms so as to lay solid foundations for future development of port cooperation.
Mr. Yang Huaxiong, Deputy Director-General of Water Transport Bureau of Ministry of Transport of China said that pushing forward ASEAN-China development by land and sea is the solid foundation for achieving routes and trade connectivity. All parties should join hands to build connectivity of sea, land and information as a whole, and push forward the building of the cooperation network. He wished every party to unite forces, improve mechanisms, align with plans, and facilitate cooperation in broader areas and on deeper extents so as to achieve win-win result and common development.
Speakers from central and local governments of China and ASEAN Member States, enterprises, financial institutions and academic institutions briefed on their countries’ ports, discussed effective ways for financial institutions to support port cities cooperation, and shared development experience of port cities. The atmosphere was warm. The conference awarded port cities cooperation certificate to the first group of members of the network. Related enterprises signed cooperation agreements.?
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