On September 13, reporters learned from the CAEXPO Secretariat that the full list of "Charming Cities" for this CAEXPO has been officially released, including Changchun City in China, Bandar Seri Begawan City in Brunei, Kampong Speu Province in Cambodia, Sekong Province in Laos, Bago Province in Myanmar, Cebu Province in the Philippines, Singapore, northeastern Thailand, Baucau City in East Timor, Anjiang Province in Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia will make an overall display. Various cities and regions will bring their characteristic culture, local goodies, and cultural and artistic performances to promote in-depth interactive exchanges between China and ASEAN in the fields of local economy, trade, and people-to-people exchanges.
With the theme of "Sharing Opportunities 3.0 and Creating a Better Life Together", this year's CAEXPO will see Timor-Leste appear as a formal member of ASEAN for the first time. This is the first time since ASEAN's expansion that a historic "family portrait" has been achieved in Nanning.
From city image display to characteristic industry promotion, from cultural customs performances to project investment matching, after years of accumulation, the "Charming City" exhibition area of the China-ASEAN Expo has been upgraded from a city business card to a golden bridge connecting local cities in China and ASEAN, promoting cooperation between the two sides from encounters and mutual understanding to integration and win-win. At this China-ASEAN Expo, Changchun City in China will focus on displaying the development achievements of key advantageous industries such as rail transit, optoelectronic information, aerospace and applications, and promote regional resources such as specialty products and ice and snow culture and tourism to comprehensively demonstrate industrial strength and development vitality. Brunei's Bandar Seri Begawan City will rely on Royal Air Lines to promote air routes and tourism services. Cambodia’s Kampong Speu Province will hold a special promotion and matchmaking meeting to comprehensively demonstrate the province’s investment environment, industrial development advantages and key investment areas, and promote pragmatic exchanges and project docking between Chinese companies and Cambodian local governments and industrial parks. Indonesia will panoramically display the country’s urban landscape, cultural tourism characteristics and development vitality, fully demonstrating the unique charm of the Thousand Islands Country. Sekong Province in Laos has set its sights on a green future. Clean energy projects such as wind power and solar energy have become the highlights of the exhibition, integrating mountain tourism and characteristic handicrafts to highlight ecological development and cultural heritage. Malaysia will comprehensively demonstrate its outstanding overall national style through its rich tourism resources, distinctive cultural characteristics and superior investment environment. Bago Province in Myanmar and Cebu Province in the Philippines will promote high-quality tourism resources and an excellent investment environment and open the door to cooperation. Singapore will focus on the theme of "Intelligence opens up new opportunities, connects the world, science and technology gathers momentum, and talents go far" to demonstrate the advantages of modern urban governance and technological innovation development. Twenty provinces in the northeastern region of Thailand will make a collective appearance to comprehensively promote tourism resources and investment opportunities using geographically iconic products and unique culture as carriers. Baucau City in Timor-Leste will appear on the stage of the China-ASEAN Expo for the first time and will showcase its local cultural tourism characteristics and emerging development potential. An Giang Province in Vietnam will also focus on presenting its city image, leading industries and investment prospects.
Since the establishment of the "Charming City" exhibition area at the 2nd China-ASEAN Expo in 2005, the exhibition area has carried the memories of nearly 190 cities, witnessed the profound friendship between China and ASEAN in humanities and economic and trade integration, and has also become a vivid epitome of the deepening cooperation between the two sides.
(Guangxi Cloud-Guangxi Daily reporter Huang Jing)
