On 10 August 2018, H.E. Mr. Chen Dehai, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), met with Mr. Li Gang, President of CCPIT Sichuan Council in Beijing. Mr. Guo Chuanwei, Director of Trade and Investment Division of ACC, attended the meeting.

Mr. Li Gang briefed on the development strategy of “Four-way Expansion, Global Openness” made by Sichuan province for greater opening up, which puts the Southward and Eastward openness and cooperation at a prominent position at this stage. The emphasis on Southward openness and cooperation is to take the initiative to integrate into the China-Singapore cooperation mechanism, participate in the cooperation under the China-ASEAN framework, co-build the international economic corridors including the China-Indochina Peninsula and connect the markets of South and Southeast Asia, so as to continuously expand new space for the development of open economy in Sichuan province.

Mr. Li Gang said that since 2010, the South Asia-Sichuan Business Promotion Roundtable Conference has achieved good results under the organization of CCPIT Sichuan Council. It has strengthened the cooperation between the business associations of South Asian countries and Sichuan province, and promoted bilateral project cooperation and economic exchanges between small and medium-sized enterprises. In order to build a higher-level opening platform, CCPIT Sichuan Council intends to deepen cooperation with South and Southeast Asia on the basis of the South Asia-Sichuan Business Promotion Roundtable Conference and hopes to get strong support from ACC.

Secretary-General Chen Dehai thanked Mr. Li Gang for the visit and said that with a large economy, Sichuan has laid a solid foundation for economic and trade cooperation with ASEAN. In recent years, economic and trade cooperation between Sichuan and ASEAN countries has also achieved remarkable results.ACC will continue to play an active role as a bridge to support the building of opening platforms and passages in Sichuan province, provide services for enterprises in China and ASEAN, and promote practical cooperation in the economic and trade fields between ASEAN and China.

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