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China-ASEAN Expo opens in S China city

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-19 16:38

NANNING -?The 7th China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Expo opened in Nanning Tuesday afternoon.

China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin attended the opening ceremony of the Expo in Nanning, capital city of south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, together with leaders, officials, business people and scholars from the 10 ASEAN countries.

Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), also cut the ribbon with several foreign leaders at the opening ceremony.

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Featuring the theme of "free trade area and new opportunities, " the six-day Expo included about ten sub-forums covering such areas as energy, agriculture, finance, transport and poverty relief.

The China-ASEAN Expo was initiated by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the 7th China-ASEAN summit in 2003 in a bid to promote the establishment of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and common prosperity.

This is the first expo since the establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the world's third largest free trade area, on Jan 1, 2010.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam with a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers.