Beijing (VNA) – Cooperation between China andthe Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have seen great progress innumerous fields, including trade and finance, affirmed Chinese Vice PremierZhang Gaoli.

Zhang made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the 14th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit(CABIS) in Nanning, capital of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, onSeptember 12.

In recent years, China and ten ASEAN members haveintensified connectivity on policy, infrastructure, trade, finance andpeople-to-people diplomacy.

From 1991 to 2016, bilateral trade volume grew nearly56-fold while two-way accumulative investment volume rose nearly 355-fold,Zhang said.  

China has been ASEAN's biggest trade partner for the past eightyears, while ASEAN has been China’s third largest trade partner for six years.

In the first seven months of this year, two-way tradeincreased by 14.5 percent year on year, higher than China’s overall tradegrowth rate. 

In terms of finance, China and the 10 ASEAN countries wereamong the founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, whichsince 2016 has provided funding totaling 2.8 billion USD to 17 projects in ninedeveloping countries in Asia. 

According to Zhang, the upgrade of the China-ASEAN FreeTrade Area, already in effect, will inject new impetus to bilateral economicand trade development.

The four-day CAEXPO attracted 2,709 exhibitors, up 1.5percent from the previous event, while the number of buyers is expected toexceed 10,000, including about 4,000 international buyers.-VNA