China-ASEAN Expo Thai Exhibition 2015 organised in Bangkok April 2-4

BANGKOK, April 3 (TNA) - Thailand is the first member country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to have organised a China-ASEAN Expo, aimed at strengthening relations between China and Thailand and providing an opportunity for Chinese investors to visit Thai factories. The China-ASEAN Expo Thai Exhibition 2015 is organised at Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Center (BITEC) on the outskirts of the Thai capital from April 2-4, during which more than 150 booths display Chinese and Thai products. The three-day event is sponsored by the Thai Ministry of Commerce’s Department of International Trade Promotion, the China-ASEAN Expo Secretariat and the Department of Commerce in China's Guangxi Province. Liu Youming, Deputy Secretary-General of the Communist Party of China (CPC)’s Guangxi Committee, said on Friday that the China-ASEAN Expo is held for the first time in an ASEAN member country because China realises the importance and potential of ASEAN in helping materialise the maritime silk road in the 21st century Beijing is trying to implement. Liu noted that the Chinese government has set Guangxi to become a land and sea bridge in trading with countries in Southeast Asia. Liu elaborated that, as China and Thailand will celebrate their 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year, the Chinese government is prepared to use the opportunity to develop the maritime silk road and to further develop cooperation with countries along the Mekong River basin. Meanwhile, Thai Permanent Secretary for Commerce Chutima Bunyapraphasara told journalists that the China-ASEAN Expo Thai Exhibition 2015 should be a good opportunity for both China and Thailand to strengthen bilateral relations and to allow Chinese investors to visit manufacturing plants in the Thai Kingdom. According to the senior Thai official, the 12th China-ASEAN Expo will be held in Nanning, Guangxi's largest city from September 18–21, 2015. (TNA)