New South China 20th September Title: East Expo opens up new space for economic, trade and investment cooperation between China and South Asian countries

Newspaper reporter Julie.

¡°We are very honored to have invited Sri Lanka as this year¡¯s Special Invitation Partner. China-ASEAN Exhibition is much more than an exhibition. It is a strategic platform and is the best expression of interconnection and shared prosperity,¡± said Sri Lanka¡¯s Consul General in Guangzhou, Rassinka Damragh, at a Sri Lanka Talk in the framework of the 22nd East Expo.

The 22nd China-ASEAN Expo was held in Nanning, Guangxi from September 17th to 21st, attracting the attention of a large number of people inside and outside the region. More than 3,200 enterprises from 60 countries participated in the exhibition, with an exhibition area of 160,000 square meters, and nearly 100 economic and trade promotion activities... High-quality exhibitions have promoted political and business dialogue and economic and trade exchanges and cooperation.

Since its 11th session, the East Expo has set special invitation partners to expand from service "10+1" cooperation to service RCEP cooperation and joint construction of "Belt and Road", promoting exchanges between China and ASEAN as a whole with countries outside the region and creating more business opportunities.

¡°Every year the exhibition has good results, our wooden furniture and handicrafts are very well sold, which has strengthened my confidence to participate in the exhibition.¡±Pakistan exhibitor Yashin Asgar said that he and his partners come to Guangxi to participate in the East Expo, this year is the sixth.The meaning of the East Expo platform has been not only limited to China and ASEAN countries, many neighbouring countries, the ¡°Belt and Road¡± countries also actively participate in it, share the economic development dividends and I will also come to the East Expo next year, hoping to promote more good products from Pakistan.¡±

Consumers and Pakistani exhibitors discuss the price of goods (September 19).

Sri Lanka has been the 13th East Expo Special Invitation Partner, opening a new journey of cooperation between the two sides. This year, Sri Lanka once again as a special invitation partner country to participate in the East Expo, several port companies, spices enterprises and other representative local enterprises participate in the exhibition. In addition to showing tea, spices, rubber and other specialty products, the exhibition enterprises hope to find cooperation opportunities in attracting tourism investment and promote the development of the port.

Mr. Xing from Hainan is very concerned about the processing trade and export of aquatic products in Sri Lanka, and plans to visit the aquatic products trade business in the near future. For this reason, he specially consulted the Sri Lankan political and business people who came to the exhibition on related matters. He expressed his optimism about China-Sri Lanka economic and trade cooperation. With the increase of exchanges and cooperation between China and South Asian countries, many high-quality products from Sri Lanka will continue to enter China, which is a good business opportunity.

Luwanpura, an exhibitor from Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, has always wanted to promote his products to the Chinese market. When he learned that the government organized enterprises to participate in the exhibition, he responded positively. This year, he came with his own cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom and other products. During the exhibition, he met many customers who consulted and purchased. He admits that China's consumer market has great demand, and now China is constantly opening up to the world. He hopes to cooperate smoothly with some Chinese companies and sell more good products to China.

Some areas of the "the belt and road initiative" international exhibition area of the East Expo (photo taken on September 19th). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Lili

Over the years, with the increasing exchanges, the East Expo has provided a platform for South Asian countries to display their commodities, investment environment, tourism culture and cooperation needs, directly promoted the docking with government officials, entrepreneurs and investors in China and ASEAN, and opened up new space for regional cooperation.

Participating in the exhibition for 8 years, for the exhibition of goods to the East Expo, Nepal's exhibitor Dakar's enthusiasm is still very high and the exhibition year-over-year is better, I have a lot of old customers, often find me to order, the Chinese consumer capacity is strong."Dakar said, in addition to the East Expo, he also went to Shanghai, Kunming, Beijing and other places to participate in China's large exhibition events, China exhibition sales seven and eight times a year.

Talking about future regional cooperation, Yasiru Ranaraja, founding director of Sri Lanka's "the belt and road initiative" organization, said that under the background of global uncertainty and great changes in the world trade pattern, the East Expo, with its characteristics of strengthening regional economic interdependence, has supported the vision of building a community of regional destiny with tangible rich cooperation results, and has also become a model for a broader global cooperation model and building Community of Shared Future for Mankind.