The Fifth China-ASEAN Expo will be held during Oct. 20-23 next year in its permanent venue of Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China, the organizing committee said here Wednesay.

"We are considering putting cooperation in the electronic information industry as the theme of the next exposition," said Li Jinzao, deputy director of the organizing committee.

The next exposition will focus on sustainable development and its results so as to consolidate the platform of China-ASEAN Expo for further cooperation between China and Southeast Asian countries, Li told a press conference at the end of the Fourth China-ASEAN Expo.

"We will pay more attention to major issues concerning social and economic development in China and Southeast Asian countries, such as poverty reduction and food safety, and list them as themes for discussions at forums to be held during the exposition," he said.

"We will continue to improve our services for the holding of the exposition for a win-win result of both China and ASEAN member countries," Li added.

The China-ASEAN Expo is an annual gathering of political and business leaders as well as experts to discuss major issues concerning the development in the region covering China and the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Business people from both China and the Southeast Asian countries also come on the occasion for make their fortune.

The ASEAN regional bloc groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

At the just concluded four-day exposition, Chinese and Southeast Asian businesses signed agreements on investment a total of 6.15 billion U.S. dollars on machinery, building materials, consumer electronics, farm produce, foodstuffs and other projects.

This figure represented a 5.28 percent increase from the previous China-ASEAN Expo. Agreements on a total of 182 international economic cooperation contracts were signed. Traders from China and ASEAN countries also signed 1.42 billion dollars worth of trade contracts, up 12.1 percent year on year.

According to Li, also vice chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the number of Chinese and ASEAN companies and institutions participated in the exposition increased 4.9 percent to 1908.

(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2007)