BEIJING, July 27 -- Officials from China and ASEAN countries and leaders of Asian financial agencies are gathering in China's Nanning city. As the 2007 Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Forum opens, economic and trade cooperation in the region are high on the agenda.

    The 2007 Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Forum opened in Nanning, capital city of China's Southwest Guangxi Zhang Autonomous Region on Thursday.

    The Pan Beibu Gulf rim cooperation forum includes China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei.

    Initiated by China last year, the cooperation has achieved good results over the past year.

    Jiang Zhenghua, vice chairman NPC Standing Committee, said, "The trade volume between China and the other six countries in 2006 reached 130 billion US dollars -- up 22.6 percent."

    Development among corporation members has also attracted the attention of many Asian financial institutes. The Asia Development Bank is one of them.

    The first vice president of Asia Development Bank, Lawrence Greenwood, said the emerging region of east Asia is one of the world's most dynamic. The region grew at 8.7 per cent last year, and the figure is expected to reach eight per cent this year.

    Greenwood says the bank plans to provide more support in infrastructure and financial services to the Pan Beibu area.

    At the closing ceremony of the two-day meeting, the latest report on regional cooperation will be released.

    (Source: cctv.com)