The Pan-Beibu Gulf, connecting many countries, serves as a crucial intersection for multi-regional cooperation. Back in 2006, following the trend of economic globalization and regional economic integration, Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Forum (PBGECF) came into being, marking the start of the Pan-Beibu Gulf economic cooperation. Over the past 15 years, PBGECF has extensively gathered consensus on cooperation, actively expanded cooperation platforms, and strongly pushed all parties to move towards cooperation and win-win results.
The 11th Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Forum and 2020 Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port Cooperation Summit was held in Nanning, Guangxi on October 15, 2020. Government officials, well-known experts and scholars, business elites, industry personalities, and other representatives from China and ASEAN countries participated in this Forum both online and offline, and discussed topics on “Jointly Construct Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port and Explore New Model of Interactive Development” and “Build High-Quality New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor to Serve the Development of International Supply Chain” to promote Pan-Beibu Gulf cooperation and register tangible results.
Pan-Beibu Gulf cooperation enjoys broad prospects in the new era
As the bond linking China and ASEAN by sea and land, Pan-Beibu Gulf has received increasing attention from all parties due to its unique geographical location, rich natural resources, good cooperation foundation, and broad development prospects. Especially as China and ASEAN continue to enhance cooperation, Pan-Beibu Gulf Cooperation as an important sub-regional cooperation under the framework of China-ASEAN cooperation has also been placed more high expectations.
At this Forum, all participants agreed that under the influence of the COVID-19, China and ASEAN have consolidated economic and trade investment cooperation against the trend, fully demonstrating the resilience of China-ASEAN cooperation and also reflecting the broad prospects of Pan-Beibu Gulf Cooperation. All participants looked forward to promoting ports construction and the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor to promote Pan-Beibu Gulf Cooperation and benefit the people of all countries in the region.
“Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, China and ASEAN countries have maintained close communication and supported each other to promote regional economic recovery. Economic, trade and investment cooperation has risen against the trend. ASEAN will become China’s largest trading partner, fully demonstrating the profound foundation of China-ASEAN strategic partnership, and reflecting the broad prospects of Pan-Beibu Gulf Cooperation,” said Lu Xinshe, Secretary of CPC Guangxi Committee, China.
To this end, Mr. Lu suggested that the Pan-Beibu Gulf countries should take China’s accelerated construction of a new development pattern and the upcoming signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement as new opportunities, to jointly explore new methods and new rules for economic and trade cooperation and further smooth trade, jointly build and share the Beibu Gulf international gateway port to better serve the Pan-Beibu Gulf region and accelerate its integration into the global trading system, jointly improve the construction level of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and drive the complementary advantages of the China-ASEAN industrial system and deep integration. Besides, the China-ASEAN Year of Digital Economy Cooperation is an opportunity for both sides to jointly cultivate new momentum for regional economic development.
H.E. Jurin Laksanawisit, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, Thailand said that Pan-Beibu Gulf Cooperation is important regional-level cooperation, while the Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port is an important logistics base and transportation hub. It can cover west regions of China, ASEAN countries, and even central Asia and Europe through railway, waterway, and air. Therefore, the Pan-Beibu Gulf countries should give full play to the geographical advantages of Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port and strengthen cooperation. Thailand is also willing to strengthen the connections among the Belt and Road Initiative, Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor, and New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and become a regional logistics center through the Beibu Gulf and even the gateway to China and the world.
Build the Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port with joint efforts
The Overall Plan on the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor released in 2019 has improved the status of Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port and made it officially a national strategy. What about the construction of the port now? How should we improve it? On this Forum, guests had a comprehensive discussion about jointly building Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port and brought a number of cooperation achievements.
Zhu Lucun, Associate Dean of Transport Planning and Research Institute of Ministry of Transport, China, said that Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port, from an international perspective, is a new hub for the Belt and Road. Since the port links with the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, it connects Mid-Asia, Europe and ASEAN countries and serves as a new international mutual land-sea logistics channel. Therefore, he suggested that all parties should jointly build the Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port by strengthening the functions of the Beibu Gulf comprehensive transportation hub and logistics hub, improving the port collection and distribution channel, reducing the cost of port production and management, optimizing the port service function, and attracting domestic and foreign investment enterprises to participate in the construction of Beibu Gulf coastal industry belt, so as to jointly build Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port.
Wang Ming, Director-General of Institute of Comprehensive Transportation of National Development and Reform Commission, China, said that the Pan-Beibu Gulf region has the advantages of latecomer position and potential chances. All parties should explore innovative shared mechanisms in facilities, industry, and finance and open a new way for the development of shipping service cluster area, port industry cluster area, and modern logistics park with the support of the hub. By doing this, we can also bring the Beibu Gulf great opportunities to reconstruct the international trade system and high-quality logistics system, so as to achieve high-quality development.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that in order to speed up the construction of Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port, this forum also obtained a series of important achievements: unified operation ceremony of Qinzhou International Container Terminal, commencement ceremony of Zhonggu Qinzhou Container Multimodal Transport Logistics Base, launch of Port and Shipping All-in-One Service Platform of Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port, launching ceremony of ASEAN (Cambodia)-Beibu Gulf Port Fruit Express Line, release ceremony of Guangxi Water Transport and Port Development Fund, signing ceremony of Qinzhou-Beihai-Fangchenggang Port-Based National Logistics Hub Alliance, signing ceremony of agreement on comprehensive strategic cooperation framework between Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group Co., Ltd. and Shandong Port Group Co., Ltd., signing ceremony of strategic cooperation between Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Provincial Seaport Investment & Operation Group Co., Ltd., and signing ceremony of cooperation agreement on Guangxi (Fangchenggang)-Chongqing (Jiangjin) “Southeast Asia Cold Chain Land-Sea Express” Cold Chain Train. With these achievements, the Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port will be jointly built into a world-class port.
Build high-quality New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor to serve the development of international supply chain
Aimed at achieving regional and national cooperation between western China and ASEAN, as well as other countries and dynamically linking the Belt and Road, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor is a composite open channel with western China as a key section that reaches ASEAN countries like Singapore and further radiates Mid-East and Europe through railway, shipping, highway, and other transportation means. With the rapid development of the new channel, the construction now has been paid more attention and promoted by more countries. At this Forum, the participants also proposed to build a New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor of high-quality from aspects of infrastructure, policy coordination, and industrial layout, so as to help the development of international supply chain.
“With the deepening economic and trade cooperation between ASEAN and China, demand for logistics and procurement among countries in the region will increase significantly, and the logistics industry will also usher in new opportunities. Therefore, I suggest that we should jointly promote the construction of New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and help the development of international supply chains by promoting the integration of international regional customs clearance, strengthening information exchange, and establishing a large-scale cooperation mechanism involving all parties,” said Teo Siong Seng, Executive Chairman of Pacific International Lines Group, Singapore.
Hu Hongbing, Deputy Director-General of Port and Logistics Office of Chongqing Municipal People’s Government, China, believed that in order to build a high-quality New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, it is necessary to speed up the construction of a vertically integrated industrial chain system. To this end, he suggested that efforts should be made to achieve mutual development by strengthening strategic coordination, ensure joint efforts by strengthening organization and communication, realize deep integration and development among industrial supply chains, capital chains and chains of people and logistics by strengthening operational coordination, and finally nurture strong vitality by strengthening policy coordination.
“I believe that with joint efforts of parties, New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor will surely acquire steady, long-term and high-quality development, and open a new historical chapter,” said Hu Hongbing.
Source: China-ASEAN Panorama
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