News

Associations now linked in regional trade

By Zhang Zhao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-18 08:09

Cooperation between commercial associations provides a new path for business partnership between China and ASEAN, according to a declaration released at the first China-ASEAN Industry Cooperation Conference (CAICC) that opened yesterday in Kunming.

As the fourth-largest trade partner of each other and benefiting from complementary resources, China and ASEAN have vast potential for industrial cooperation, the declaration says.

Governments of all nations in the region see potential in a number of major industries and appreciating the important role of chambers of commerce play, the declaration says.

Both sides will enhance collaboration in agriculture, IT, human resources, environmental protection and development of the Greater Mekong River Sub-region.

Trade associations from both sides will establish more strategic cooperative programs covering technology, energy development, tourism and transportation, the Kunming declaration says.

Through industrial transformation, they aim to expand markets in the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) and attract more investment, sharpening CAFTA's global competitive edge.

Commercial associations should communicate with government divisions and enterprises, while the enterprises, as key players in cooperation, should give advice to respective governments and commercial associations, noted the declaration.

An information-sharing network will be established for unified standards on products and services in the region.

Companies can also release information about their products and demand via the system.

China and ASEAN will jointly hold training programs, especially for managers of the small and medium-sized enterprises, to meet the needs of the development of certain industries.

The China-ASEAN Business Council (CABC) will play a major role, as the economic ties between China and ASEAN is becoming closer, said Xu Ningning, vice secretary-general of China-ASEAN Business Council at the three-day Kunming conference.

Xu suggests that China and ASEAN should make new plans of cooperation between commercial associations of both sides as soon as possible.

He also called for expanded areas, innovated forms and improved systems for bilateral collaboration.

As part of the China-ASEAN cooperation system and the first meeting about the docking of industries since the establishment of CAFTA, CAICC plays an important part in guiding both sides' operations.

China will continue hosting the conference in the future, the declaration says.

(China Daily 09/18/2010 page8)