News

Nanning, 3 September 2013

His Excellency Mr. Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, allow me to express my sincere thanks to the government of the People’s Republic of China and the people’s government of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region for the warm hospitality and the excellent arrangements accorded to us since our arrival to this beautiful city of Nanning.

This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit. The year also coincides with the 10th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership. It is an important year for both ASEAN and China as we are moving forward to further promote our relations in all areas. Therefore, it is very timely and relevant that the theme of this year’s event is “Glorious Past and Innovative Development”.

Over the past years, our region has undergone transformations in political, economic and social areas. Our region has become not only the centre of growth in the world, but also is playing an important part in the global economy. An economically stable ASEAN and China is crucial to world economy. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to deepen ASEAN-China cooperation to meet our common objectives. In the past two decades, relations between ASEAN and China have witnessed great achievements: beginning from dialogue partners that has developed to partners of good-neighbourliness and mutual trust and eventually to strategic partnership. We cherish the relations and we are dedicated to maintain and further strengthen this relation for future generations.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

China is now ASEAN’s largest trading partner and ASEAN is China’s third largest trading partner. The foreign direct investment from China to ASEAN has also increased significantly. This is a very good sign and we should keep this momentum. We very much welcome the increased economic cooperation between ASEAN and China. In 2010, we established the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area. It has become the largest Free Trade Area in terms of population and third largest in terms of nominal GDP. We are also trying to enhance the ASEAN-China FTA at present.

We highly appreciate China’s support for ASEAN integration and the ASEAN Community building efforts. The ASEAN Community that will emerge in 2015 will bring the people of ASEAN and China closer to each other. In this respect, the ASEAN-China Connectivity Committee and the ASEAN-China Transport Ministers’ Meeting will contribute greatly towards the realization of our connectivity goals. I strongly believe that an economically developed ASEAN-China region will greatly promote peace and stability of the region. We also highly appreciate China’s support to ASEAN centrality in the evolving regional architecture. In this respect, we will continue to work closely with China in the ASEAN led mechanisms such as plus one, plus three, ADMM plus, ARF and EAS. At a time we are bringing our peoples closer to one another we should continue to promote friendly exchanges between the parliamentarians, scholars, students and youths and other stakeholders.

On bilateral note, I wish to express our satisfaction over the development of good neighbourly “Pauk Phaw” relations between us. China is the largest foreign investor in the country, investing over 14 billion US dollars. The total trade between Myanmar and China in 2012 was US$ 5.148 billion. As our share in ASEAN-China trade relations is only over one percent, we should try more to increase trade between us. A significant development in Myanmar-China economic cooperation was realized in July 2013, with the opening of the Myanmar-China oil and gas pipeline project. This project will bring benefits to the peoples of our two countries.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

This Summit plays a very important role to achieve the objectives of ASEAN-China cooperation. The ASEAN-China Expos have been creating opportunities to expand cooperation and collaboration in agriculture, energy, tourism, science and technology, human resources development, Small and Medium Enterprises and public health sectors between us. Let us expand cooperation in other areas.

We all want to see progress in regional cooperation and development. We will continue to strive for the full realization of ASEAN-China Free Trade Area. In this process, the less developed ASEAN countries need strong support from other parties, in particular from China. China is ASEAN’s close neighbor, and we value the traditional friendship between us. The links between us are historic and all of us are dedicated to maintain and strengthen our ties. Now we are more connected to each other physically and spiritually than ever before.

Myanmar will take the Chair of the ASEAN in 2014. It is a very important year for ASEAN as it will be the final preparation year of ASEAN Community building that will emerge in 2015. Myanmar is proud to take the Chair for the first time since it became a member of ASEAN in 1997. We will work with ASEAN Member States and China to further consolidate our strategic relations during our Chairmanship. We will also to expand cultural exchanges between us during our chairmanship.

In conclusion, we extend our heartiest congratulations to the organizers of the 10th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit for their great efforts and wish for a successful outcome. We wish to reaffirm our commitments for the close cooperation between ASEAN and China in bringing peace, stability and development in the region and beyond.

Thank you.