11/08/2012 (Bernama) - Some 5,703 Chinese and international companies have applied to take up booths at the ninth China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO), said Vice-Co-chair and Secretary General of the CAEXPO Organising Committee, Lan Tianli.

More than 26.8 per cent of these booths have been arranged, he said.

Lan said he also expected the number of leaders both from China and Asean countries to be similar to that seen at the previous CAEXPO, which witnessed the participation of 42 Chinese and Asean (Association of the South East Asian Nations) leaders.

Lan, who is also Vice-Co-chair of the China-ASEAN Business & Investment (CABIS) Organising Committee and Vice Governor of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said the ninth CAEXPO has gained strong support from the Chinese government and Asean governments.

"We have extended our invitation through diplomatic channel to the Asean governments and are contacting them on the attendance," Lan told a press conference here today.

He said this year's event, which will be held from Sept 21-25 in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, will also feature for the first time, an ASEAN Coffee Exhibition.

"Asean brand names and distinctive products like palm oil, rubber and raw materials will be highlighted," he said.

More efforts would be also taken for the promotion of investments including events such as the first-ever Invest in ASEAN, Promotion Conference on ASEAN Industrial Parks, Image Display on ASEAN Industrial Parks and the CAEXPO Rountable Meeting on Investment Cooperation.

There would also be investment project matching programmes and other investment promotion activities.

Lan said in conjunction with this year's theme, "Cooperation in Science & Technology", the event would also see the China-ASEAN Science Ministers' Conference, as well as over ten professional forums and networking programmes on technical transfer, finance, logistics cooperation and vocational education.

He added six Asean countries have taken up independent exhibition halls to set up their respective commodity pavilions, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

He said Myanmar, which will be the "Country of Honour" at this CAEXPO, would hold a host of programmes as well.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chair of the CAEXPO Organising Committee Gao Hucheng said by June 30, 2012, two way investments between China and Asean had approached US$93 billion (about RM289.9 billion).

"Chinese investment in Asean by June 30 this year had ammounted to US$18.8 billion (about RM58.6 billion), while Asean had US$73.8 billion (about RM230 billion) direct investment in China, accounting for six per cent of foreign direct investments (FDIs) flowing into China."

Gao, who is also China International Trade Representative and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said from January to June this year, bilateral trade between China and Asean countries stood at US$187.82 billion (about RM585.48 billion), a year-on-year increase of 9.8 per cent.

The CAEXPO is expected to continue to play an increasingly important role in the promotion of China-Asean cooperation in trade and economy.