Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (L front) inspects the guard of honour upon his arrival at the airport in Nanning, capital of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Oct. 30, 2006. Nguyen Tan Dung came here to attend the China-ASEAN Commemorative Summit marking the 15th anniversary of the establishment of Dialogue Relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which is scheduled to be held from Oct. 30 to 31.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

NANNING, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung arrived here on Monday to attend a China-ASEAN summit in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

    The summit is to mark the 15th anniversary of the China-ASEAN dialogue relations. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will hold bilateral meetings with the ASEAN leaders respectively on the sidelines of the summit.

    A joint statement is expected to be inked by leaders of China and ASEAN upon conclusions during the summit, charting the future China-ASEAN cooperation blueprint.

    Nguyen will participate in the opening ceremony of the third China-ASEAN Expo to be opened here on Tuesday.

    This is Nguyen's first visit to China as Prime Minister since he took office this past June. He will also pay a visit to Guangxi's Fangchenggang City on China-Vietnam border after the Expo.

    The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

    According to Chinese official statistics, China-ASEAN bilateral trade grew 20 percent annually over the past 15 years, reaching 130 billion U.S. dollars last year, 16 times of that in 1991.

    The trade volume between China and Vietnam topped 8 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, making China the largest trading partner of Vietnam.