On 12 September 2017, China-Philippines Production Capacity and Investment Cooperation Forum was held in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. As a part of the 14th China-ASEAN Expo, it is co-organized by China National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Commerce of China, the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the National Economic and Development Authority of the Philippines, with the theme “Promote Production Capacity Cooperation, Share Development Fruits”. Mr. Jonathan L. Uy, Assistant Secretary of National Economic and Development Authority of the Philippines, Mr. Liu Jun, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Committee, Mr. Zhou Xiaofei, Deputy Secretary General of National Development and Reform Commission of China and other guests attended and addressed the Forum. About 300 representatives from government departments, industry associations, research institutes, financial institutions, enterprises and media participated in the Forum.

Vice Chairman Liu Jun said that in recent years Guangxi and the Philippines enjoyed sound cooperation in areas of trade, culture, education and tourism. Guangxi is now proactively building itself into an international channel to ASEAN and a hub of the building of the Belt and Road. Guangxi is ready to work with the Philippines to promote connectivity in information technology, maritime and air transportation and other areas, further synergize relevant industries, push forward the joint building of industrial parks and guide enterprises for cluster development. At the meantime, Guangxi will continue to improve its service facilities and provide solid support to the high-quality production capacity projects between the two sides.

Deputy Secretary General Zhou Xiaofei briefed on the achievements of the international production capacity cooperation between China and various countries including the Philippines. He said that China and the Philippines signed the MOU on Production Capacity Cooperation last year, which created a solid basis for the two sides to deepen cooperation in relevant area. Both as developing countries, China and the Philippines are highly complementary in resources, industry structure, capital and technology and face common challenges such as economy transmission and maintaining sustainable development. The two sides should strengthen exchanges and coordination between governments, encourage financial institutions, industry associations, business councils and think tanks to play a greater role in promoting production capacity cooperation, guide companies from both sides to implement more projects and benefit more people.

Assistant Secretary Jonathan briefed on the economic development in recent years of the Philippines and its future development plans. He said the Philippines is at a stage of transformation in trade and investment, industry development and technology upgrading, and is increasing investment in infrastructure development so as to raise its competitiveness. Jointly building the Belt and Road has brought important opportunities to China-Philippines production capacity cooperation. The Philippines welcomes Chinese companies to invest in the Philippines and the two sides should seize the opportunity of sound development of bilateral relations and promote in-depth development of production capacity cooperation.

Representative from government departments, industry associations, financial institutions and enterprises shared their experiences and recommendations on promoting China-Philippines production capacity cooperation and stressed that they will continue to harness their advantages and join hands to build a better future of China-Philippines production capacity cooperation.

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