Chongqing- Under the theme of "Sharing RCEP New Opportunities, Building a Version 3.0 China-ASEAN FTA", the 19th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) was held in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on September 16. 

As the first special partner of CAEXPO in Southwest China, Chongqing has participated in the event for 19 consecutive years, continuing to deepen exchanges and cooperation between Chongqing and the ASEAN region in the economy, trade, culture, and tourism.

ASEAN, officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of ten member states in Southeast Asia, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. 

2022 is the opening year of the China-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the year when the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) comes into effect. The 19th CAEXPO is of great significance in this context.

Chongqing products showcase the city's charm 

As the "city of charm," Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality sets up a 270-square-meter city image comprehensive exhibition hall. It represents an array of exhibits covering equipment manufacturing, special food, medical products, intangible cultural heritage, etc. 

Through physical product display, Chongqing highlights new achievements in opening-up channels, intelligent manufacturing, and international consumption center, showing local goods to the participating domestic and foreign exhibitors. More than 20 exhibitors from Chongqing participated in the CAEXPO with over 70 special products. 

For example, the luxurious and intelligent large incremental electric SUV Wenjie M7, jointly designed and manufactured by Jinkang SERES and Huawei, is the most eye-catching product this year. As a typical representative of Chongqing's intelligent manufacturing, it can reach a range of up to 1,220 km with its outstanding multi-device connectivity and interaction experience. 

22 cooperation agreements with 5.3 billion yuan

At the Chongqing Economic and Trade Cooperation Matchmaking Conference on September 16, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce and Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency signed a memorandum of economic and trade cooperation.

Forty-three enterprises and institutions signed 22 cooperation agreements with a total investment and trade amount of about 5.3 billion yuan (approx. 0.76 billion USD).

In recent years, the economic and trade relations between Chongqing and ASEAN have become increasingly close. ASEAN has become Chongqing's largest trading partner for three consecutive years.

From January to June this year, the import and export between Chongqing and ASEAN totaled 66.29 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%.

As of June this year, ASEAN has established 567 projects in Chongqing, with a cumulative contracted foreign investment of 8.53 billion U.S. dollars. Chongqing has accumulated 58 investment projects with an actual investment of more than 530 million U.S. dollars.