Secretary General Shi Zhongjun briefed the Meeting on the ACC’s work in 2023 and its plans in 2024. He expressed his gratitude to the JC members for their lasting strong support, and stressed that the ACC will spare no efforts in the continued implementation of the important consensus between the ASEAN and Chinese leaders. The ACC is willing to follow the valuable recommendations from all parties, make the best use of the 2024 ASEAN-China Year of People-to-people Exchanges and the significant occasions in bilateral relations between China and individual ASEAN Member States (AMS), and further strengthen the ACC’s role as a backbone platform of planning to advance practical cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between both sides, so as to contribute more to ensuring a quality growth of the ASEAN-China comprehensive strategic partnership.

The Co-chairs and the JC members all spoke highly of the ACC’s enormous endeavors in promoting ASEAN-China friendship and cooperation, sincerely acknowledged the achievements registered by the ACC in 2023, and looked forward to the ACC consistently playing its role as a linking bridge between AMS and China, tapping on fresh cooperation opportunities and materializing more flagship projects, especially through closer cooperation with the Chinese local governments and better alignment with the resources of individual ASEAN countries, and securing new strengths of cooperation in such areas as trade and investment, technological innovation, digital economy, culture and tourism, media and youth exchanges, thus making more substantive contributions to moving forward ASEAN-China relations.