written by Li Min / translated by Gao Qianqian

The 12thCAEXPO Sets Up a Stage for International Capacity Cooperation

written by Li Min / translated by Gao Qianqian

2015 is the first year of the construction of the “Belt and Road” and the Year of China-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation. The 12th CAEXPO and CABIS held in September 18-21, 2015 in Nanning, Guangxi, China shouldered new responsibilities.

Before the CAEXPO and CABIS, Gao Yan, China's Minister of Commerce, claimed, in the new situation, the CAEXPO should give full play to its advantages and highlight its influence in political diplomacy. Based on the principle of“negotiation, joint construction and sharing”, it aims at promoting the indepth cooperation in international capacity and cross-border economy and taking effective economic measures to implement the “Belt and Road” via raising the level of regional economic integration, tapping into trade potentials and expanding twoway investment.

Against such a background, the 12th CAEXPO, with the theme of “Jointly Building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Creating a New Blueprint for Maritime Cooperation”, planned a series of high-level friendly cooperation as well as economic and cultural exchanges including the opening ceremony, meetings between leaders and entrepreneurs, and achievements exhibition on maritime cooperation. Also, a series of activities themed on international capacity cooperation wereheld for the first time, to drive dominant capacities to cooperate with equipment manufacturing industry, technological transfer and financial service and so on, which set up a new platform for China-ASEAN international capacity cooperation.

“International capacity cooperation between China and ASEAN conforms to the interest of both sides.” Zhang Xiaoqin, Vice Chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, denoted, China has become a world industrial power in the middle end of global industrial chain. China’s capacity is the combination of high-end technology and cost advantage of labor force, which enjoys high performance cost ratio, and meets the needs and ability of the ASEAN countries. Several ASEAN countries have not yet had completed industrial systems and their manufacturing capacity also needs to be improved. Via capacity cooperation, China will help them to raise their production capacity, perfect industrial system, speed up industrialization process, and promote employment and economic growth.

As the new platform for China-ASEAN international capacity cooperation, the CAEXPO made good use of its own advantages to “set up a bridge” and guided China’s competitive industries and equipment manufacturing industry to invest in ASEAN and encouraged Chinese enterprises to actively engage in ASEAN’s infrastructural construction as well.

The International Capacity Cooperation Forum, with the theme of “21st Century Maritime Silk Road and Promoting International Capacity to Cooperate with Equipment Manufacturing Industry”, was held during the 12th CAEXPO. It invited China’s competitive enterprises and related organizations and enterprises from ASEAN. Also, the International Cooperation Exhibition on Economy and Capacity was held, highlighting electric power equipment, engineering machinery, transport vehicles, building materials, electronic communications equipment etc. During the CAEXPO, China Railways Corporation and CRRC Corporation Limited attended the 12th CAEXPO. With focus on railway capacity cooperation, they made good performance to promote common development in connectivity and high speed railway between China and ASEAN. At the Matching Conference for International Capacity and Equipment Manufacturing Industry, the CAEXPO organizer invited enterprises engaged in electric power, building materials, construction machinery, and electronic communications equipment, enterprises from Hebei, Shandong, Zhejiang, Chongqing, etc., over 20 industrial parks from the ASEAN countries, as well as China’s 14 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones present.

Besides, Thailand, the Country of Honor of the 12th CAEXPO, reaped new achievements in capacity cooperation during the exhibition. Thailand’s Promotion Conference for Industrial Technologies held concurrently with the 12th CAEXPO in Nanning, as one of the major activities of the 3rd Forum on China-ASEAN Technology Transfer and Collaborative Innovation, set up a new platform for the capacity cooperation between Thailand, China and other ASEAN countries. It also aims at establishing an exclusive platform for the promotion of China-Thailand industrial technology cooperation to advance China-Thailand capacity cooperation.

This promotion conference pooled resources from China’s developed areas like the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta), Guangzhou, and Shenzhen (Pearl River Delta) etc., and centered on Thailand's modern agriculture, food, biological medicine, new energy and renewable energy for industry cooperation and business matching. Thailand's supreme autonomous institution for scientific research -- Thai National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and Asia's largest producer of sugar and biofuel -- Mitr Phol Group etc. all gathered here to seek for cooperation opportunities.

International capacity cooperation is a good way to drive economic development and address possible economic pressures, which is of positive significance to the multi-field and in-depth cooperation between China and ASEAN. As a grand international economic and trade cooperation platform co-built by China and 10 ASEAN countries, the 12th CAEXPO developed into a new platform of policy interpretation, industrial matching and information service for China, ASEAN, as well as other countries along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to carry out capacity cooperation.