The 7th Meeting of the JEB Held at ACC Secretariat

On 21 November 2017, the 7th Meeting of the Joint Executive Board (JEB) was held at the Secretariat of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) in Beijing. The Meeting was co-chaired by H.E. Mr. Jose Santiago L. Sta. Romana, Ambassador of the Philippines to China, and Mme. Mao Ning, Counsellor of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. Attended the meeting were H.E. Ms. Magdulene Teo, Ambassador of Brunei to China, H.E. Dato' Zainuddin Yahya, Ambassador of Malaysia to China, H.E. Mr. Piriya Khempon, Ambassador of Thailand to China, Mr. Salearmxay Thathongsar, Charge d’affaires of Embassy of Lao PDR in China, representatives from the Embassies of Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore and Viet Nam in Beijing, members of China Council of ACC, and officials of ACC Secretariat.

The JEB members commended ACC’s great efforts and achievements under the leadership of Secretary-General Yang Xiuping in promoting friendly exchanges and cooperation in trade, investment, education, culture, tourism, and information and media by highlighting the 50th anniversary of ASEAN and the ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation in 2017. At the 20th ASEAN-China Summit held early this month in Manila, all leaders reached broad consensus on further promoting ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership, and adopted a series of cooperation documents. Next year will be the 15th anniversary of ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership and the ASEAN-China Year of Innovation. All members expected that ACC could continuously make full use of its strength, focus on the theme and priority areas of ASEAN-China cooperation and carry out next year’s activities, so as to make new and better contributions to the in-depth and all-around development of ASEAN-China relations.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping expressed her appreciation to the JEB members for their strong support to the Secretariat. She said ACC would continue to actively implement the important consensus reached by leaders of ASEAN Member States and China, and solidly push forward friendly exchanges and practical cooperation in various areas.  Through maintaining closer contacts with the JEB members and listening to their suggestions and comments, ACC Secretariat would continuously improve its work to better serve the development of ASEAN and China and play an even greater role in deepening ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership. 

The Meeting deliberated on ACC Draft Annual Report of 2017, ACC Draft Annual Plan of Operation and Work Programme of 2018 and the Draft Proposed Budget of Operational Expenditure of 2018, and other related matters. The above-mentioned documents will be submitted to the 7th Joint Council Meeting of ACC for further consideration.