China-ASEAN Relations, October 2008 to March 2009: Chronology of Events

OCTOBER 2008
2nd	Kerry Asia Road Transport (KART) launches a service between China and Thailand and plans to carry freight to Vietnam later in 2009. The cross border trucking enterprise connects KART's Southeast Asian network with China for the first time. The initial lane is from Kunming, to Bangkok. In the fourth quarter, the Thailand-based Kerry Logistics subsidiary will add a route from Guangxi to Vietnam. KART already provides door-to-door service throughout Thailand and Malaysia and has been building a transport and logistics platform in China for more than 20 years.
10th	Health Ministers of the ASEAN+3 agree that aspects of trade and commerce pose challenges to the health sector. The ministers met in Manila to discuss the progress of their collaboration on health matters which began in 2004.
	The ministers task ASEAN+3 senior officials to gather information on the possible implications of international and regional trade and trade agreements for health policy.
13th	Lee Boon Yang, Singapore's Information, Communications and the Arts Minister, lead a delegation to Nanning. Lee was visiting China at the invitation of Wang Chen, China's Minister of State in the Council Information Office, to attend the first Conference of ASEAN-China Ministers Responsible for Information.
16th	An ASEAN-China Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Information and Media is held in Nanning in an effort to enhance cooperation in the field of information. The aim of the meeting is to step up information and media cooperation among ASEAN and China. Information cooperation schemes between ASEAN and China had been proceeding well and needed to be increased. An example was the opening of Indonesia's Antara news agency office in Beijing and of China's Xinhua in Jakarta.
21st	The China-ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Forum begins in Nanning. It is the first ever such activity held in China to enhance cooperation between young business people. More than 140 entrepreneurs from ASEAN countries take part in the event organised by the All-China Youth Federation (ACYF).
	China-ASEAN Agricultural Means Chamber of Commerce, the nation's first regional multinational chamber of commerce that is under the title of "China-ASEAN", makes its debut in Nanning. The chamber plans to undertake the exhibition of agricultural means, agricultural products and foods at Guangxi Exhibition Hall from 2010 when the sixth China-ASEAN Expo will be held there. From 2009, the chamber will handle the China-ASEAN Small and Medium Enterprise Product Thematic Exhibition at Nanning International Conference and Exhibition Centre every March or April.
	China proposes strengthening port cooperation with ASEAN at the China-ASEAN Port Cooperation Summit in Nanning. A senior official from China's Ministry of Communications, Ju Zhicheng, says that a port cooperation organisation consisting of port regulators or representatives from port enterprises from both China and ASEAN should be established to regulate the operations of port enterprises and facilitate bilateral investment relations.
	Xu Ningning, Vice Secretary-General of China-ASEAN Business Council (CABC), says Construction of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) is progressing smoothly. From 1 January 2009, the China-ASEAN FTA had entered a third tariff lowering period, and by 1 January 2010, both regions will remove trade tariffs for over 90 per cent of their traded products.
	Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan meets ASEAN leaders attending the fifth China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning. He exchanges views on bilateral relations and mutual concerns in his meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai and Laos Vice President Boungnang Volachit.
	Wang says that the friendly relations between China and ASEAN countries have been greatly developed with beneficial cooperation in economic, trade and investment. Wang says China will work together with ASEAN countries to advance bilateral cooperation and contribute to regional prosperity and stability, particularly in times of global financial fluctuations.
22nd	The China-ASEAN Chamber of Agricultural Commerce (CACAC), the first international chamber of commerce between China and Southeast Asia is set up. It aims to build an agricultural supplies market in the...