In the first half of this year, China and ASEAN countries registered 224.4 billion US dollars in trade revenue, up 1.6 percent from a year ago. The figures were unveiled at a China State Council press conference on Wednesday discussing ties between ASEAN and Beijing.
Vice minister of commerce Gao Yan said that bilateral trade revenue in 2014 was up 8.2 percent over 2013. That's 5 percentage points higher than the overall foreign trade revenue growth of China. Bilateral investment stood at 130 billion US dollars for China and Asean countries.
60 percent of China's outbound investment has gone to the ASEAN region since 2010. The China-ASEAN expo will take place from September 18th through 21st in the southern Chinese city of Nanning, and will focus on China's belt and road initiative and related investment.