< Opening >

Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of the People's Republic of China;

Secretary Peng Qunghua of the Guanxi Zhuang Autonomous Region's CPC committee;

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha of Thailand;

Leaders of the ASEAN countries and distinguished guests,

I would like to begin my remarks by congratulating you on the successful opening of the 12th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO).

It is a great honor to participate in today’s event on behalf of Korea, the Special Guest Country of the 12th CAEXPO.

I am accompanied here by around 60 government officials and business leaders from my country, who are visiting Nanning to attend a product exhibition and find new opportunities for investment.

Today's event takes place a time when the ties betweenKorea and China have reached new heights. The recently signed Korea-China FTA is expected to expand the two countries' economic cooperation even further, and President Park Geun-hye and President Xi Jinping have exchanged frequent state visits.

Earlier this month, President Park paid a visit to Shanghai with 156 economic delegates to promote business exchange and cooperation.

Korea-ASEAN relations have also prospered as 'a partnership of trust and cooperation' since the first dialogue in1989. ASEAN is now Korea's second largest trading partner and investment destination, as well as one of the top tourist destinations for Korean people.

Unfortunately, the global economic picture is not so rosy. The world today faces the prospect of sliding into a prolonged economic stagnation.

In this context, I believe stronger trilateral cooperation among Korea, China and ASEAN can be the key to bringing new momentum to the slowing global economy.

So today, I would like to take this opportunity to suggest three ways that we can further promote our trilateral relations.

First, we need to expand our cooperation by moving the focus from the manufacturing sector to new industries.

That means pulling our strengths together to explore new competitive areas for cooperation in each country. It means joining forces to promote technology cooperation and various forms of exchange. If we do this, our countries can play a leading role in the new industries that will drive tomorrow's economy.

Second, we need to accelerate negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

We made a very meaningful achievement at the RCEP ministerial meeting in Malaysia this August by concluding the agreement on modality in goods. Now we should find ways to build on that achievement and bring RCEP closer to reality.

Last but not least, we need to strengthen trilateral cooperation on infrastructure. This is related to the theme of the 12th CAEXPO, cooperation toward the 21st century Maritime SilkRoad.

Korea has abundant experience in overseas infrastructure construction. It is ready and willing to actively participate in building the maritime silk road by contributing to power and gas-related infrastructure, roads, bridges, plants and more.

Today's event will provide a platform for us to find new joint business opportunities and cooperative business models. It will also be a place to explore common ground to utilize the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), China’s One Belt, One Road Initiative and Korea’s Eurasia Initiative.

< Closing >

I hope that the 12th China-ASEAN EXPO today will be a great success, and that it will further promote cooperation between the governments and companies of Korea, China and the ASEAN countries.

Thank you. Xie Xie.