ASEAN Plus Three (10+3) Forum on Industrial Chain and Supply Chain Cooperation & Taihu East Asian Entrepreneurs Forum kicked off in Suzhou today. With the theme of "connecting chains, promoting prosperity", the forum emphasizes the keynote of industrial chain and supply chain cooperation between governments, industries and schools to promote the exchanges and cooperation in enterprise-centered fields.
This year's forum was held both offline and online. On the main forum this morning, Vice Premier Hu Chunhua and political dignitaries from Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the ASEAN Secretariat delivered speeches; representatives of WTO, business associations and enterprises as well as experts and scholars spoke about the cooperation in the field of industrial and supply chains; business associations of all sides issued the Joint Initiatives for Cooperation among ASEAN Plus Three Chambers of Commerce in Industrial Chain & Supply Chain.
Five sub-forums on joint demonstration zone for trade and economic innovative development, RCEP implementation, logistics and supply chain development, digital economy and green development, and industrial and supply chains finance were held simultaneously this afternoon.
The forum on digital economy and green development was co-organized by Jiangsu Development and Reform Commission, Industry and Information Technology Department of Jiangsu and Suzhou Municipal People's Government, and has attracted some 180 representatives from various fields. Centering on new topics and fields of global development, the forum aims to deepen cooperation in digital economy and green economy, explore new ways to promote digital infrastructure construction and innovative application of digital technologies, expand cooperation in new fields such as digital trade, and promote green development and upgrading of industrial chain and supply chain in the region.
Guests visit an intangible cultural heritage exhibition.
Suzhou is home to 2,794 companies funded by ASEAN member states, 2,987 Japan-invested companies and 2,452 ROK-invested companies, with their direct investment for actual use reaching $15.01 billion, $13.71 billion and $5.93 billion respectively. In the first half of this year, Suzhou's trade volume with the RCEP signatory countries expanded 8.3 percent year-on-year to 473.72 billion yuan, 37.5 percent of the city's total imports and exports.
Suzhou will strive to demonstrate and promote its best industrial ecosystem and business environment, further deepen the cooperation with the RCEP signatory countries, and advance win-win cooperation with higher-level opening-up.
