Guangxi, land of the Zhuang, has never been as attractive as it is today. Nor has it ever had such a significant mission.
    At the Seventh China-ASEAN Summit on 8 October, 2003, Premier Wen Jiabao proposed that the China-ASEAN Exposition and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit be held annually in Nanning. This far-sighted proposal was widely agreed by the ASEAN leaders.
    Since then the eyes of the world have been drawn to Nanning, with the first China-ASEAN Expo in November, 2004 and the second in October, 2005.
    In the Vanguard of the Mission
    The China-ASEAN Expo was the first major event with the theme of constructing the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA): as such. it was jointly sponsored by China's Ministry of Commerce, the commercial and trade ministries of the ten ASEAN nations and the ASEAN Secretariat. It was organized by the People's Government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
    The accelerating construction of the CAFTA and the permanent site of the expo in Nanning transformed Guangxi from a southwest border region into a frontier of open-ing-up. Guangxi took on the mission to speed up the construction of a brand new and dynamic free trade area.
    When it came to taking on such a large-scale and prestigious regional gathering for cooperation and exchange, Guangxi had its disadvantages   its backward economy and lack of experienced personnel among them. But it had unassailable advantages too -- in particular location advantage, being China's only provincial region connecting with ASEAN countries by water and land. With the development of a modern transport network formed by modern airports, expressways, and marine and river shipping, Guangxi has the most convenient access from China into the ASEAN area and the best access from southwest China to the sea. Following long years of construction, the host city of Nanning has perfected its urban functions, laying the physical foundations to hold large-scale international expositions. Guangxi enjoys three types of preferential policy   as a coastally situated opening-up region, as a west China development region, and as an ethnic group autonomous region. It is the only area in China to have all three. The people of Guangxi are united in their determination to do a good job of hosting the expo. Because of the expo, Guangxi has provided a first-class investment and trade site, first-class exhibition halls and facilities, first-class security and safety, first-class services and a first-class urban living environment.Guangxi has made the expo something special, arousing praise from visitors from ASEAN countries and every part of China.
   

An Opportunity for Rapid Development  

The China-ASEAN Expo is a prestige gathering that brings benefits to all parties a win-win event. What is sown can soon be reaped and after two expos, a business and trade platform of mutually beneficial cooperation has been established. With its countless business opportunities, it achieves good results in business and trade cooperation.The expos have had a turnover of one billion US dollars every year and brought Guangxi over 100 foreign-invested projects involving five billion US dollars. The two expos have enhanced Guangxi's business and trade ties with ASEAN, which has become Guangxi's most important trading partner.
    The China-ASEAN Expo also helps deepen mutual understanding and friendship. Guests from other areas of China and Southeast Asia came together at the exposition to discuss construction of the free trade area and the outlook for cooperation and development. Via this platform, Guangxi appeared on the stage of foreign exchange in a brand new and confident image. With a sincere attitude, Guangxi exchanges ideas, deepens mutual understanding, improves friendship and enhances mutual trust with ASEAN. The exposition has also given impetus to cultural exchange between Guangxi and ASEAN nations. Rich and colorful cultural exchange activities present Guangxi and ASEAN nations' diverse cultures to the world, as well as strengthening relations
and boosting political, cultural exchange and cooperation between Guangxi and ASEAN.
    The China-ASEAN Expo is an opportunity to showcase Guangxi's new image and spread its name. After two successful expos, Guangxi has demonstrated its strategic position in developing CAFTA, making the most of its role as a key point of the free trade area, and has shown itself off as an opening-up city. Chinese and foreign media report the expositions in depth, presenting Guangxi's strength and mindset to the people of China, ASEAN and the world. People are beginning to know Guangxi, to look at Guangxi in a new way. Guangxi is stepping up its pace of opening-up to ASEAN and to the world.
   

A Platform for Cooperation and Prosperity

The China-ASEAN Expo is always on the minds and lips of Guangxi people.
    The second expo had hardly finished before statistics were available: over 20,000 business people from all around the world had attended, signing 126 international projects involving US $5.29 billion and 263 domestic projects involving 50.18 billion yuan, and the total volume of business over the four days had reached US $1.15 billion.There had been improvements since the first expo -- larger scale, more specific content,better service, more suitable partnerships, more activities and more special features.Participating nations recognized the truth of and felt pride in the demonstration of the slogan "China and ASEAN 1 + 10 > 11," i.e., China plus the ten ASEAN nations are greater than the sum of their parts. Nearly 850 journalists representing 180 media around the world had reported  the event. Everything pointed to the fact that the expos had helped achieve benefits for all concerned.
    The second exposition was held in the context of increasing China-ASEAN busi-ness and trade cooperation, and full-scale operation of the free trade area. Since the initiation of the China-ASEAN free trade area in 2002 to 2004, trade volume grew by an average of 38.9 percent per year and ASEAN became China's fifth biggest export market. In the first half of 2005, the volume of trade reached US $59.76 billion,an increase of 25 percent over the same period of the year before, and ASEAN became China's fourth biggest trade partner. By focusing on building platforms for the trading of goods, joint ventures, summit forums, and cultural exchanges, Guangxi does all it can to make the exhibitions a success, so that business and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN may be accelerated, and the common prosperity of all countries in the free trade area may be boosted.
    Guangxi is brimming with confidence about the future of the expos, convinced that as development of the CAFTA picks up pace, the exposition will provide Chinese and ASEAN enterprises with greater opportunities to enter each other's markets and to share in its benefits more fully. The exposition will become the engine driving business and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN.