HAIKOU /China/, December 13. /TASS/. South China's Hainan province hosted a China-ASEAN think tank conference to strengthen cooperation with countries in the region, the Hainan Daily reported.

According to the newspaper, the main theme of the event was to deepen comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the consolidation of multilateral efforts to implement promising joint projects. The conference was organized by the China People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs the China Institute of Reform and Development (Hainan) together with research organizations from Indonesia and Singapore. It was held in the provincial administrative center of Haikou.

"Strengthening relations between China and ASEAN has fostered an atmosphere beneficial to a stable development of the Hainan Free Trade Port," Hainan Governor Feng Fei said at the opening ceremony. "This has given our province a rare opportunity to achieve a higher level of openness and systematize measures taken in relevant direction."

The official recalled that in recent years the island has played an increasingly important role in the development of China's economic cooperation with ASEAN member states. ASEAN, Feng Fei stressed, has become Hainan's leading trading partner. "We will actively promote the creation of a key link in the province, which will connect the markets of China and the member countries of the association," he said.

As Song Qinglin Foundation chairman and former deputy head of China's People's Political Consultative Council Wang Jiazhui, who addressed the event via video conference, noted that the combined effort of the PRC and ASEAN will allow them to overcome numerous difficulties and "move forward on the bright path of cooperation, mutual benefit." "Our mutual political trust is constantly growing stronger, we are achieving fruitful results in pragmatic cooperation, continuously developing cultural and humanitarian relations, and maintaining close contacts in international and regional cooperation," he added.

The online event was attended by Vietnam's former Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem, former Chairman of the National United Front of an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC) Keo Puth Rasmay, a number of prominent politicians and respected experts from Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand.

Strengthening ties with ASEAN

Chi Fulin, Director of the China Institute of Reform and Development (Hainan) told TASS earlier that Hainan is capable of making a breakthrough in implementing important economic projects involving government agencies and ASEAN companies during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025). He believes that in the process of increasing cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, Hainan will form an important regional center that will play a coordinating role in China's foreign economic cooperation with the countries of the region.

According to official statistics, the volume of trade between Hainan and ASEAN in January - October 2021 increased 3.6% at an annualized rate, exceeding 19 billion yuan (about $ 3 billion). Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines were the southernmost Chinese province’s key partners. They accounted for about 70% of its foreign trade turnover.