On 22 August 2017, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) met with Mr. Huang Sanping, Member of the Party Leading Group of the People’s Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Director of 2017 (China) Eurasia Commodity and Trade Expo Organizing Committee. Mr. Paliwai Musha, Secretary-General of the People’s Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Mr. Ni Ruchi, Deputy Director-General of China-Eurasia Expo Secretariat, and Mr. Wu Zenghong, Deputy Director-General of Foreign (Overseas Chinese) Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region attended the Meeting.
Mr. Huang Sanping welcomed Secretary-General Yang for attending the 2017 (China) Eurasia Commodity and Trade Expo. He said that Xinjiang has a vast territory, bordering on eight neighboring countries, and has the longest land border of China. In recent years, Xinjiang has enjoyed stability, continuous economic development and rapid improvement in people's living standards. In 2016, the economic growth rate in Xinjiang reached 7.6%, above the average level of the whole country. By in-depth participation in the building of the Belt and Road and actively holding important events such as China-Eurasia Expo, Xinjiang’s pace of opening to the outside world continues to accelerate and economic and trade cooperation continues to deepen. Its economic relations with Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and so on, keep on deepening. Xinjiang looks forward to strengthening its ties with ACC, and through ACC’s platform, to expand Xinjiang’s friendly exchanges and practical cooperation with ASEAN countries, with an aim to reach a win-win result and bring benefits to the people.
Secretary-General Yang appreciated Xinjiang’s social and economic development, as well as its achievements in opening up to the outside world. She outlined ASEAN-China relations and the efforts ACC made for practical cooperation between the two sides. She stated that ASEAN and China enjoy geographical proximity and cultural affinity, and the bilateral cooperation keeps on deepening. With the joint efforts of both sides, ASEAN-China relations have become the most dynamic and robust among the relations between ASEAN and its dialogue partners. Xinjiang was an important gateway in the ancient Silk Road, as well as the current frontier for China’s opening up to the west. It plays an important role in the building of Belt and Road. ACC would like to strengthen its coordination and cooperation with Xinjiang, to seize the opportunity and promote Xinjiang-ASEAN economic and people-to-people cooperation, with an aim to make greater contribution to ASEAN-China relations and the prosperity of this region.