23rd China-ASEAN Expo opens with new product debuts, AI focus

The 23rd China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit opened on Thursday morning in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, bringing a wave of first-time product launches, upgraded AI applications and new matchmaking platforms designed to deepen trade and industrial ties under the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) 3.0 framework.

The expo is themed "CAFTA 3.0 Opportunities, Better Life", focusing on trade, AI, and applications. Its total exhibition area covers 170,000 square meters, 10,000 square meters larger than last year. About 3,400 companies are participating, up 5.3 percent from the previous edition.

For the first time, a future space exhibition area and a sci-tech enterprise growth empowerment exhibition area have been set up, where high-tech products and debut items are showcased.

This year's expo has also set up a new exhibition area dedicated to the needs of ASEAN countries for the first time, showcasing their specific technological and application requirements, and making it easier for Chinese enterprises to precisely match their offerings to these needs.

In addition, it is introducing a new exhibition model in which chain-leading companies are here together with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By exhibiting alongside upstream and downstream SMEs, the industrial leaders are helping specialized and innovative enterprises enter the international stage.

Highlighting AI applications is a major feature of this year's expo. Setting up an "AI Marketplace" for the first time, the expo aims to promote AI's shift from technology display to practical application. More than 500 products from over 70 companies are on display, and visitors can experience them on site and place orders directly.

There is also a dedicated exhibition area for the Pinglu Canal, which officially opened to navigation on Wednesday, the eve of the expo.

The Pinglu Canal has shortened the shipping route from southwestern China to the sea by more than 560 kilometers and lowered logistics costs by up to 30 percent, providing a new corridor for goods to flow in both directions between the vast Chinese and ASEAN markets.

The expo will run until September 21.

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 48 pips to 6.758 against the U.S. dollar Thursday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.