On 16 May 2018, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), attended the opening ceremony of the "ASEAN-China Belt and Road Business Forum: the First E-Commerce Cooperation Dialogue" and delivered remarks.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping warmly welcomed all participants to attend the Forum. She expressed her appreciation to the Chinese Mission to ASEAN for the positive contribution and all co-organizers for their hard work in preparing for the Forum. She said that ASEAN-China political trust has deepened, practical cooperation has achieved fruitful results, and people-to-people exchanges strengthened. An all-dimensional, multi-tiered and wide-ranging cooperation framework has taken shape, delivering tangible benefits to the 2 billion people of ASEAN countries and China. ASEAN-China relations have become the most successful and dynamic model of cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. This year is an important year for building on past achievements and seeking further progress as it marks the 15th anniversary of ASEAN-China strategic partnership. The two sides are formulating ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership Vision 2030. This year is also the ASEAN-China Year of Innovation. It will deepen cooperation in scientific and technological innovation and inject strong impetus to ASEAN-China cooperation and East Asia regional development.

She said that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has recently paid an official visit to Indonesia. Leaders of both sides held fruitful talks and reached new consensuses on Indonesia-China cooperation, such as forging greater synergy between development strategies, promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, expanding investment and industrial capacity cooperation and strengthening people-to-people engagement. This visit has cemented the good momentum of bilateral relations. During his visit, Premier Li Keqiang also visited the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, met with ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi, and attended the launching ceremony of celebration activities marking the 15th anniversary of ASEAN-China strategic partnership, stressing that China is committed to be ASEAN’s partner for common development, peace, greater openness and win-win progress, entrepreneurship and innovation and in promoting inclusiveness and mutual learning. China wishes to work with ASEAN to build a closer community with a shared future and a better tomorrow for ASEAN-China cooperation.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping indicated that joint pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative is a new highlight of ASEAN-China cooperation, while innovation cooperation is a key component of this Initiative. Both ASEAN countries and China attach great importance to e-commerce and have a solid foundation for exchanges and cooperation. Both sides should further strengthen policy communications, business cooperation, capacity building, personnel training as well as joint research, so as to achieve more positive outcomes. This forum focused on the current development and future prospect of e-commerce in ASEAN and China, as well as cooperation opportunities between the two sides, and is designed to capitalize on the momentum of the Belt and Road Initiative and strengthen mutual learning so that both sides can give full play to their advantages, share the dividends of digital economy, and achieve win-win results. She hoped that all participants would fully engage in discussions and contribute their wisdom for new achievements in ASEAN-China cooperation, especially in the area of e-commerce.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping also gave a brief introduction of the mandate and work of ACC. She said that ACC is an inter-governmental organization co-founded by 10 ASEAN Member States and China and has been committed to implementing the consensus reached by the leaders from both sides and promoting practical cooperation in areas of trade, investment, education, culture, tourism and information and media. On trade and investment, ACC has worked actively to promote the upgraded ASEAN-China FTA and relevant ASEAN trade and investment policies, and enhance cooperation on production capacity, agriculture and poverty reduction. ACC supports ASEAN enterprises, SMEs in particular, in exploring business opportunities in China and has organized investment missions to ASEAN countries. ACC also actively promotes e-commerce cooperation in keeping with the trend of the times.ACC will continue to play its role as a one-stop information and activities centre and join hands with all sides to take ASEAN-China practical cooperation to a new level.

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