Salesgirls in traditional ethnic costumes.

There was palpable excitement in the air as we touched down at Nanning Airport on October 18 last year. Crates and suitcases snaked along the crowded baggage conveyor belt, marked with exotic addresses in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Greeting parties and taxi drivers jostled around arrivals, bearing placards with script that this correspondent could not comprehend. The path to the exit was flanked by rows of southern beauties in traditional garb, screaming local greetings as they welcomed travelers to their also beautiful city. So what was behind the buzz in the balmy capital of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region? The following morning would see the opening of the 2nd China-ASEAN Expo (CAExpo), a four-day-long collaborative trade extravaganza involving the formidable economic engine of China, and its ten vibrant neighbors that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

About ASEAN

The increasingly powerful bloc that is ASEAN is comprised of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, ASEAN was founded in 1967, when the leaders of five Southeast Asian nations signed the Bangkok Declaration with a view to consolidating their individual fragmented economies, working together to reduce their reliance on advanced nations and creating a forum for the resolution of intra-regional differences. Expansion in terms of size and weight was inevitable.

An Indonesian businessman shows his wares to prospective buyers.

By the time the tenth member, Cambodia, signed up in 1999, ASEAN's founding fathers were beginning to witness the fruits of their toil. The Association was evolving into a robust regional entity, carrying out extensive cooperation in sectors like industrial development, investment, energy, agriculture and tourism. The organization is now on the fast track to establishing the AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area) and is gaining increasing influence in social and economic spheres among heavyweights like China, Japan and South Korea. The annual China-ASEAN Expo is just one of ASEAN's milestones since its inauguration nearly 40 years ago, and is proof of the Association's growing regional and international clout.

Watering the Fruit-bearing Trees of Friendship

Heavy rainfall on the morning of the 19th slightly delayed the opening ceremony, but it did little to dampen participant enthusiasm. Employing diplomatic eloquence, China's Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai remarked that the downpour would only, "Water the trees of friendship" between China and ASEAN. Those trees first began to sprout some years back, but with recent intensified developments between China and ASEAN, including summits, statements and signing ceremonies, they've branched out at an explosive pace, mirroring the two sides' astonishing growth.

The 10+1 partnership is unparalleled in terms of its growth rate and future potential, evidenced by a surge in trade volume of nearly 40 percent between 2002 and 2004, within a market comprising 1.7 billion now more affluent consumers. The total scope of commerce will represent the world's third largest FTA, behind the European Union and the North American Free Trade Zone, and by far the largest in terms of population. As Zhai Kun, a scholar with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations put it, "Among all the FTA negotiations that China has been in, the negotiation with the ASEAN is definitely the fastest and most fruitful one."

The Event

A wide selection of Southeast Asian fruit.

As well as being a lucrative affair for regional producers of satellite technology and scientific rice strains, the CAExpo is also a concrete brick in the eventual construction of that Free Trade Area. It was initiated by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who in October 2003 proposed that the two sides hold an annual expo and business and investment summit in Nanning from 2004 onwards. Co-sponsored by China's Ministry of Commerce, its ten ASEAN counterparts and the ASEAN Secretariat, the CAExpo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit aim to promote the construction of the China-ASEAN FTA, and share and explore opportunities for cooperation, investment and development in the region as a whole.

The venue for the CAExpo was the Nanning International Conference Center, a giant of a building that accommodated roughly 3,500 exhibit booths as well as the tens of thousands of visitors that piled into the place over the four days. Showcased in the booths was every imaginable product from pharmaceuticals to proteas.

Each booth was staffed by typically well-spoken and multilingual company representatives who had a pile of printed matter as well as a large stock of business cards at hand. "The first CAExpo was great for my business," said Celine Zheng, director of the Beihai Golden Field Flower & Seed Co. Ltd., one of the more colorful companies at the event. "Our nearby flower farm has expanded to 2,500 mu (15 mu = 1 hectare) and our sales are doubling every year. In the past three years, we've sold 30 million units, and closer ties with our Asian neighbors have played a large role in our success."

In addition to the thousands of individual company booths, there were also elaborately decorated national booths, where each ASEAN country promoted one or more of its main pulling points. Malaysia focused on its quality educational opportunities, Thailand flaunted its investment opportunities, while Myanmar advertised a wealth of business opportunities.

Domestic and foreign media afforded the event massive coverage, with teams of reporters descending upon Nanning for the four days. Camera flashes bounced off the drenched teepee rooftop outside, and off the gigantic posters and billboards within the interior space. Seemingly every inch of the expo hall was filmed or snapped and each sound was frantically jotted down or taped. Given the sheer size and scope of the event, and the chance to get close to this dynamic region's main movers and shakers, all under one roof, the journos' journey was well worth the substantial logistical effort.

So well was the event organized, that this correspondent - and the tens of thousands of visitors - had little trouble negotiating the countless booths, and locating precisely his areas of interest. Well-formatted floor plans, bilingual signposts, and hundreds of local young volunteers guided the masses through what could have otherwise been a chaotic labyrinth. Complaints were few, but one was perhaps justified.

When during the closing press conference Li Jinzao, deputy director of the CAExpo organizing committee and vice chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, invited comments and suggestions from the throngs of journalists assembled at the plush Liyuan Hotel, one reporter from Jakarta bemoaned the want of English announcements at the conference center. On one occasion, the reporter said, he almost got trapped inside, having failed to understand the announcement that it was about to close for the day. Li Jinzao thanked the correspondent for his contribution, and said that the organizing committee would make every effort to recruit more English speaking volunteers for the third event, so the microphones could be properly manned.

The Results

Two impressive results shone through by the time the 2nd China-ASEAN Expo came to a close on October 22, 2005. One was an obvious improvement in the Expo's organization and potential in the short year that had elapsed since its launch. There were, "Larger-scale and more professional programs, super business projects…superb services as well as a diversified program with distinguished features in more fields, and fruitful and practical commercial results," according to Li Jinzao. There was an increase in the number of international standard booths, and 170 different kinds of products were on display.

The 2nd CAExpo also progressed in terms of dollars and percentages. At the close of the Expo, China-ASEAN aggregate trade volume "amounted to US $1.15 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6 percent," said Li Jinzao. There were two grand signing ceremonies and dozens of smaller ones, during which Li Jinzao said, "126 international investment cooperation projects…with a total investment of US $5.29 billion," were inked, "…a year-on-year increase of 5.9 percent."

The two-year-old CAExpo is already an international state-level exposition, which participants describe as "win-win," "fruitful," and an "opportunity for greater prosperity." Organizers are now busy preparing for the 3rd China-ASEAN Expo later this year. They promise more specialized themes, more effective pre-matching of trade and products, and optimized support services including, of course, those bilingual announcements.