Nearly 500 SMEs of China and ASEAN countries met and talked with their potential partners for trade, investment and merger cooperation via the cross-border matching platform built by Bank of China at the SMEs Cross-border Investment and Trade Cooperation Symposium held at the 12th CAEXPO.

A total of eight rounds of face-to-face talks, free talks and video dialogues were arranged on Sept 18, attracting enterprises dealing in timber processing, building materials, halal food, agro-based products, breeding industry, electronics and electrical appliances. The symposium is the largest event that attracted the largest number of enterprises and boasts the most extensive influence since Bank of China launched cross-border matching business. According to incomplete statistics, 297 business talks were arranged and 195 pairs of enterprises have concluded preliminary intention on cooperation by 3 pm on Sept 18. The success ratio of business talks reached 67 percent.

At the symposium, the Bank of China Singapore branch and the China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund concluded on site an MOU on Comprehensive Cooperation, the Thailand Nong Khai Industrial Park, the Bank of China Thailand branch and the Beijing Huaronghui Co., Ltd. signed the agreements of cooperation, and Guangxi Huanjiang Fenglin Co., Ltd. inked cooperation agreement with a Malaysian company.

Gao Yingxin, vice governor of the head office of Bank of China, said at the symposium that ASEAN is a major hub along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and an important destination of investment in Asia. Bank of China will integrate its cross-border matching services for global SMEs with the CAEXPO, to promote investment and trade cooperation between Chinese and ASEAN SMEs, support SMEs to explore the international market and achieve more win-win outcomes.