2023 RCEP Local Governments and Friendship Cities Cooperation Forum opens in Huangshan

On June 9th and 10th, 2023, the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) Local Governments and Friendship Cities Cooperation (Huangshan) Forum was held in Huangshan City, Anhui Province. With the theme of "Regional Cooperation for a Win-Win Future," about 500 Chinese and foreign guests gathered to discuss new opportunities for RCEP economic and trade cooperation, and seek a new future of mutual benefit and development.

At the opening ceremony, leaders from Laos, China, Thailand, and ASEAN delivered speeches, and representative from Anhui Province presided over the opening ceremony. Government officials and responsible persons from friendly provinces and states of RCEP member countries, executives of Fortune 500 companies and well-known corporate leaders, heads of domestic and foreign chambers of commerce and investment institutions, and well-known experts and scholars at home and abroad attended the opening ceremony.

During the opening ceremony, the business community of all parties issued the "2023 RCEP Huangshan Forum Initiative," aiming to integrate RCEP local governments and friendly cities, take the successful holding of this forum as a new opportunity, create new platforms, jointly promote consultation, construction and sharing, and promote local governments and enterprises to fully integrate into the RCEP market at a higher level, achieve mutual benefit and common development at a higher level, and inject more certainty into world peace and development.

The first RCEP Local Governments and Friendship Cities Cooperation Forum was hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Anhui Provincial People's Government, with the China-ASEAN Center as a supporting unit. Participants discussed many themes, including deepening friendly exchanges between governments, developing economic, trade, cultural, and tourism industries, and the fields of life, health, and medical care. They provided suggestions on how to fully and effectively implement RCEP and help more enterprises participate in RCEP regional economic and trade cooperation on a larger scale, in a wider range, and at a deeper level.