BANG THE GONG: Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang strikes a brass gong to open the Laotian Exhibition Hall on October 19. The Sixth China-ASEAN Expo opened in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on October 20 (LIU WEIBING)

A high profile exposition co-hosted by China and 10 Southeast Asian countries was held on October 20-24 in Nanning, capital city of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, highlighting final preparations for a free trade area amid the lingering global economic downturn.

The Sixth China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Expo (CAEXPO) is a platform to enhance connectivity and strengthen communication and consultation between China and countries in the region.

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang, together with leaders, high-ranking officials and businessmen from the 10 ASEAN countries, attended the opening ceremony of the annual event.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao proposed CAEXPO in 2003 as a platform for elites in the region to share ideas about how to accelerate economic development and create a better trade environment.

The 10 ASEAN countries—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam—comprise 4.5 million square km.

In a time seeing rising global trade barriers, the Expo this year is seen as an important opportunity to strengthen communication and consultation on the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA), which is expected to begin on January 1, 2010.

It is the first free trade area agreement signed by China that would mean no tariffs on 90 percent of products traded between China and ASEAN countries along with favorable policies on trade and investment.

Upon completion, the China-ASEAN FTA will be one of the largest free trade zones in the world, forming a market with a population of 1.9 billion, a trade volume of $4.5 trillion and a combined gross domestic product of $6 trillion.

Negotiations over the FTA were completed after the China-ASEAN Investment Agreement was signed in August this year, which was the final in a series of trade agreements in goods and services.

Record number

The CAEXPO attracted a record number of ASEAN exhibitors to display their commodities, including food and agricultural products and handicrafts.

According to the CAEXPO secretariat, this year's event included 4,000 booths, about 600 more than last year's. The 10 ASEAN countries took up 1,169 of the booths, almost one third of the total. Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam also operated independent exhibition halls. The Philippines had 50 booths, while Cambodia had 80 and Singapore 16.

Countries outside ASEAN, including France, Japan and South Korea, again participated in the Expo, while Hungary and Madagascar joined the fair for the first time.

Both domestic and overseas purchasers were active in the event. China's Jiangxi and Sichuan provinces submitted names of buyers before the Expo's opening. ASEAN countries, the United States, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and New Zealand all sent buyers, as did India and Kazakhstan for the first time.