Global Mayors Dialogue to boost exchanges at all levels among cities across China, ASEAN: attendees

The ongoing Global Mayors Dialogue in south China's Nanning City will help boost exchanges at all levels among cities across China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said attendees on Thursday.

Mayors, representatives and experts from China and ASEAN countries have gathered in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to discuss urban openness and cooperation during the dialogue that opened Thursday.

Themed "Building a China-ASEAN Community of Friendship: Urban Openness and Cooperation", the "Global Mayors Dialogue -- Nanning" event has attracted attendees from ASEAN countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Nanning Initiative was also released during a dialogue session, which calls for deepening friendly exchanges between cities, economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

Relevant parties attending the gathering signed off on 14 projects, valued over 450 million U.S. dollars. The projects include investments in logistics and transportation, education, and tourism.

"In terms of the city-to-city relationship, it will definitely help the national strategy starting with the people-to-people exchanges, and also cultural exchange between cities. So we hope that more cities from Malaysia will be involved in such initiative by the Chinese government through Guangxi," said Ahmad Phadil Ismail, Consul General of Malaysia to Nanning.

"In the future, we'll have many cooperation closely together for the Laos, and China, for the people from the Laos and people from China to work together closely and exchange. It's something like that," said Athsaphangthong Siphandone, Governor of Vientiane of Laos.

Official data shows that the total trade value between China and ASEAN in 2024 was 6.99 trillion yuan, accounting for 15.9 percent of China's total international trade.

The two sides have been each other's largest trading partners for five consecutive years, and China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years.

As the fifth largest economy worldwide, ASEAN has contributed to the development of the world through its stable economic growth. The Nanning Initiative has taken the cooperation between China and ASEAN to a new level that helps build an even closer China-ASEAN community.