STORY: ASEAN secretary-general expects widening cooperation between ASEAN, China
SHOOTING TIME: Sept. 25, 2024
DATELINE: Sept. 29, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:09
LOCATION: NANNING, China
CATEGORY: POLITICS/ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the event
2. SOUNDBITE (English): KAO KIM HOURN, ASEAN secretary-general

STORYLINE:

The China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) is expanding areas of cooperation and engaging wider stakeholders, said Kao Kim Hourn, secretary-general of ASEAN, in an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of CAEXPO and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS).

SOUNDBITE (English): KAO KIM HOURN, ASEAN secretary-general
"I think we had to give the credit to people who work very hard to get the CAEXPO off the ground. Back in 2004, to get it off the ground was very challenging already. But to sustain the CAEXPO for the past 20 years (until) now, we're setting in a new phase after 20 years to the 21st year, to keep it going takes greater efforts and great leadership and great cooperation.
At the same time, it is going beyond the traditional meaning that we move now to expanding the traditional areas of cooperation into new areas, such as digital trade, for example. So I think it's gonna be even more exciting, in a sense that we have more cooperation, we have more stakeholders who will be involved.
This is gonna be very substantial to upgrade the CAFTA (China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement) because we want to see that these activities become more relevant for the businesses. Both the ASEAN and China have been the largest trading partners for each other. What we would like to see is that there would be widening cooperation, which would deepen, meaning more trade, more investment, more tourism, more people-to-people connectivity. Yes, we hope that it (CAEXPO) will even contribute more to trade, investment, tourism, and other economic cooperation between the two sides, because we have shared interest. Our shared interest is to continue to build our prosperity for the people."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Nanning, China.
(XHTV)