HANOI, April 14 (Xinhua) -- After a visit by Chairman of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Lu Bing to four ASEAN countries, a party official of Guangxi has arrived here to introduce the 3rd China-ASEAN trade fair in late 2006.

    Secretary of the Communist Party of China Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Committee Cao Bochun arrived on April 13 for a four-day visit to Vietnam. Vietnam is the first leg of his 10-day tour, which will also take him to Malaysia, Laos and Cambodia

    Since 2004, the China-ASEAN trade fair has been successfully held twice in Guangxi's Nanning city, becoming a springboard for promoting trade and economic cooperation between China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

    From March 28 to April 11, Lu Bing led a delegation to tour the Philippines, Brunei, Singapore and Myanmar. During the visits, trade fairs were held to exhibit Guangxi's high-quality products, and seminars were held to promote investment among China and the ASEAN and to introduce the 3rd trade fair, and recommendations were collected for the organizing of the trade fair.

    Cao Bochun met with officials of Vietnam's northern Lang Son province and Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien on Thursday. The two sides exchanged views on the development of ties between China and Vietnam, and between Guangxi and Lang Son.

    Cao met with Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong on Friday.

    Meanwhile, trade fairs displaying Guangxi's high-quality products will be held in Hanoi capital and southern Ho Chi Minh City, and a seminar introducing the China-ASEAN trade fair will also be organized.

    During the tour to the four ASEAN countries, the Guangxi delegation, in addition to meeting with local officials, is to mainly hold seminars on the China-ASEAN trade fair to get opinions from both political and business circles. Representatives from 14 cities in Guangxi joined in the delegation of over 500 people.

    Guangxi is the only Chinese locality having both land and sea links with ASEAN countries. Since 2004, China and the 10 ASEAN members have annually organized the China-ASEAN trade fair in Nanning, which has made Guangxi an international entrance linking China and the ASEAN in a rapid and convenient manner.

    In recent years, the ASEAN has become the biggest trading partner of Guangxi.

    To hold the China-ASEAN trade fair, Guangxi has built a China-ASEAN economic area in Nanning in an effort to make it an intermediary for promoting trade and economic cooperation between the two sides. Quangxi is also constructing a China-ASEAN international trade zone to offer working and accommodations services for people from the regional grouping. Enditem