Expo to deepen Northeast Asia biz ties

The annual China-Northeast Asia Expo, whose 14th edition kicked off in Changchun, capital of Jilin province, on Wednesday, has grown into an important platform for deepening intra-regional cooperation and integration in trade, investment and technology, organizers, officials and participants said.

Scheduled to run until Sunday, the expo, the 14th since 2005, has attracted more than 1,000 exhibitors from more than 40 countries and regions. The event's venue covers 70,000 square meters and houses over 3,400 booths of domestic and overseas companies, the expo's organizers said.

Hao Mingjin, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, said at the opening ceremony that Northeast Asia is one of the world's most dynamic growth regions. Cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative continues to lend new impetus to broader regional cooperation.

Northeast Asia has world-leading scientific and technological research and development capabilities, and the economic development of each country in the region possesses comparative strengths and high complementarities, Hao said.

The growing favorable conditions will provide fresh opportunities to advance the inter-regional high-quality development and bring out greater vitality, Hao said, adding China is willing to work with countries in the region to promote more extensive cooperation.

China's trade with Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Russia and Mongolia rose 3.8 percent year-on-year to $923.2 billion in 2022, on the back of an increasing proportion of electromechanical and high-tech products in the trade mix, data from China's Ministry of Commerce showed.

Meanwhile, cumulative two-way investment between China and other Northeast Asian countries totaled more than $257 billion as of June, flowing into both traditional sectors like infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing, and emerging fields like the digital economy and green development, the ministry said.

Jing Junhai, secretary of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, said that as a new round of technological innovations and industrial reforms takes shape, all countries are scrambling to make critical breakthroughs in science and technology.

All parties need to join hands to step up research on cutting-edge technologies and explore new ways to integrate supply, industrial, data and human resources chains, so as to boost both cooperation in innovation and industrial integration among Northeast Asian economies, Jing said.

Sustained efforts will be made to promote higher-level opening-up, further promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and foster more convergence of interests and areas of cooperation, to achieve win-win cooperation with countries in the region, Jing said.

A batch of major scientific and technological advances will be showcased during the expo, covering such sectors as optoelectronic information, intelligent manufacturing, medicine and health, modern agriculture, new materials and new energy.

In particular, precision irrigation facilities, smart greenhouse systems, agricultural drones, a new type of wind turbine and auto major FAW Group's new Hongqi models will be on display during the event.

Qu Fang, regional general manager of domestic electric vehicle maker NIO in Jilin province, said many Chinese EV brands with their cutting-edge technology and competitively priced vehicles are now very appealing to buyers at both home and abroad.

It is the first time that NIO is participating in the expo, which is an effective matchmaking platform to help the company build relations with potential customers and further explore the Northeast Asian markets, Qu said.

Furthermore, cooperation between China, a manufacturing power, and other countries in Northeast Asia, a region boasting high innovation capacity, will provide a strong underpinning for the sound development of the global auto industry through technology and sharing of useful experiences, Qu said.

In addition to on-site activities, this year's expo will roll out a digital platform to enable online exhibitions, promotions, business discussions and procurement so as to increase the event's reach and effectiveness.