"10 + 1 > 11" is the theme of this year's China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and China-ASEAN Business Summit (CABIS), and the participants seem determined to ensure that it is more than just a slogan and an aspiration.

The 5th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO), taking place in Nanning City, Guangxi, from 22nd to 25th October, will unfold against an economic background that few would have forecast during the months of organization that preceded it. Visitors and investors from the developed world are likely to be small in number and scarce on the ground compared with previous years.

Yet what could under superficial analysis seem a cause of disappointment and a harbinger of problems, might also be seen as an early indicator of a major shift in economic power and influence in coming years.

"10 + 1 > 11" is the theme of this year's China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and China-ASEAN Business Summit (CABIS), and the participants seem determined to ensure that it is more than just a slogan and an aspiration. [China.org.cn]

Chaired by Mr. Yu Ping, Vice Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the Opening Session of the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit was addressed by senior governmental representatives from five of the ten member states: HE (His Excellency) Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, HE General Thei Sein, Premier of the Union of Myanmar, HE Mr. Bounnhang Vorachith, Vice President of the People's Democratic Republic of Laos, The Honorable Prospero Nograles, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines, and HE Mr. Hoang Trung Hai, Vice Premier of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. These were followed by HE Dr. Supatchai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference and Development (UNCTED), and by China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan.

Every one of them made reference to the current global financial crisis rooted in fundamental problems in the American economy which are spilling over into the other countries of the developed west and the rest of the world.

But there were few words of gloom or despondency from the speakers. Rather, they focused on the economic relationship between China and ASEAN, both as a success story and as a mechanism through which Asian countries can combat and overcome current economic problems. "10 + 1 > 11" is the theme of this year's CAEXPO and CABIS, and the participants seem determined to ensure that it is more than just a slogan and an aspiration.