China-Northeast Asia Expo to enhance cross-border connections

The 14th China-Northeast Asia Expo, scheduled from Aug 23 to 27 in Jilin's provincial capital Changchun, will serve as an important platform to help further boost intraregional trade and investment cooperation as well as inject strong momentum into regional development, officials said on Friday.

To date, a total of 908 domestic and overseas enterprises have registered for the event, and the exhibition center will house nearly 3,400 booths for participants, Li Guoqiang, vice-governor of Jilin province, told a news conference in Beijing.

To better meet the evolving needs of global market and consumer demands, the expo will roll out new exhibition sections featuring new energy vehicles, digital economy and modern agriculture, Li said.

Li Fei, vice-minister of commerce, said that China and Northeast Asian countries are each other's important trading partners. Furthermore, the mix of trading has been continuously optimized, with an increasing proportion of electromechanical and high-tech products.

Last year, China's trade with Japan, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Russia and Mongolia amounted to $923.2 billion, up 3.8 percent year-on-year, Li said.

In addition, the cumulative two-way investment between China and the aforementioned Northeast Asian countries totaled more than $257 billion, channeling into both traditional sectors like infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and emerging industries including digital economy and green development, according to Li.

Going forward, China will step up efforts to enhance the quality of intraregional trade and investment cooperation. The matchmaking role of the China-Northeast Asia Expo will be fully leveraged to help Chinese localities attract more foreign investment, Li added.

Yu Jianlong, deputy head of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that construction of multilateral and bilateral economic and trade cooperation platforms in the Northeast Asia will be advanced, to boost regional economic integration and shared development.