NANNING -- Eleven trade and cooperation project deals worth a total of 10.3 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) were inked between Chinese and Australian companies on Thursday.

The projects cover areas such as resources, food and medicine, according to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Guangxi Committee.

The deals were signed at an RCEP trade and investment fair, which was held in both Australia and South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region to promote Sino-Australian trade and investment.

Both China and Australia are members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest free trade deal, which also includes 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, as well as Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand. It entered into force on Jan 1, 2022.

Sui Guohua, vice-chair of the regional government of Guangxi, said that Guangxi is utilizing its unique location to deepen cooperation with RCEP members. She called on Guangxi and Australia to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and dig deep into business opportunities brought by the RCEP.