The 8th China-ASEAN Film Festival is set to open on Monday in Nanning City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, focusing on showing outstanding films from China and ASEAN countries.
2024 is the ASEAN-China Year of People-to-People Exchanges, and ushered in a new stage of the China-ASEAN Expo.
The film festival, scheduled to run from Dec 9 to 15, will also include professional film reviews, film and music festivals and other colorful activities.
The opening ceremony of the event will be held on the evening of Dec 11. A total of 20 films will participate in this festival, of which nine are Chinese films and the 11 others are from nine ASEAN countries. This is the exhibition with the most participating countries and the largest number of films in history.
The films will be screened in six cinemas in Nanning, leading the audience to appreciate the unique regional customs of China and ASEAN countries and feel the charm of film culture.
The China-ASEAN Film Festival has been successfully held for seven sessions, serving as a bridge for cultural exchanges between China and the ASEAN. Over the past seven years, a total of 57 films from China and ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Singapore have participated in the festival, with a total of 172 screenings and more than 16,000 viewers watching the films.
China-ASEAN Film Festival to open in Nanning
China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao outlined the key priorities of the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, which opened on Friday in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.
In an interview with CGTN ahead of the two-day meeting, Wang said free trade, digital cooperation and green economy are high on the agenda of the meeting.
"The key areas include advancing regional economic integration and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, supporting the World Trade Organization (WTO) in strengthening digital cooperation and developing green economy. At present, the international situation is marked by intertwined turbulence and chaos, with intensified geopolitical instability. The rise of unilateralism and protectionism poses serious challenges to the international economic and trade order, disrupting global and Asia-Pacific development. Against this backdrop, all parties have higher expectations for this trade ministers' meeting, hoping that it can build consensus and deliver outcomes," Wang said.
This year marks China's third time hosting the APEC meetings and the 35th anniversary of its membership.
By 2025, China had become the largest trading partner of 13 APEC economies. Trade between China and APEC economies reached 3.7 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 57.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has signed 24 free trade agreements or economic and trade arrangements with 31 countries and regions, including 15 APEC economies. In recent years, China has also completed upgrades of free trade agreements with APEC economies such as Singapore and Peru.
The minister said that China has always been a firm supporter and an important contributor to APEC.
"We have actively shared our vast market and development opportunities with all parties. China's door to the world will only open wider and wider. Facing the common challenges, China will continue to fulfill its responsibilities as a major country, further deepen reform, expand high-standard opening-up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific region and the world with its new achievements in Chinese modernization," the minister said.
China's Commerce Minister outlines priorities for 32nd APEC trade ministers' meeting
