The 14th China-ASEAN Expo, also the 14th China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, opened Tuesday morning in Nanning City, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Under the theme of "Co-Building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Promoting Regional Economic Integration through Tourism", the four-day event attracted 2,709 exhibitors, up 1.5 percent from the previous session.

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, together with some ASEAN leaders, attended and addressed the expo opening.

China and ASEAN have achieved substantial collaboration results in various areas, including trade and finance. From 1991 to 2016, bilateral trade volume grew nearly 56-fold while two-way accumulative investment volume rose nearly 355-fold, Zhang said.

ASEAN, or the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations, is China's third-largest trading partner, while China is ASEAN's largest trading partner.

Besides products from all ASEAN members, specialties from Kasakhstan, South Korea, Japan, the U.S., Australia and others are also exhibited at the event.

Yunnan Province, which borders three ASEAN states of Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, as well as the expo host of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has actively participated in the expo over the past years.

This year, the Yunnan business delegationis headed by Yunnan vice governor Zong Guoying, who also attended today𠏋 opening and pavilions inspection.

At the 108 square meters Yunnan exhibiting area, Yunnan Dianzhong New Area, Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group, and Yunnan Provincial Energy Investment Group stole the show.

China-South Asia Expo, which has been held in Kunming to signify Yunnan𠏋 opening up under the Belt and Road Initiative, was presented at the 14 China-ASEAN Expo by an English video, coupled with Chinese subtitles.

The past years have also witnessed incresing economic ties between Yunnan Province and ASEAN countries. In first half of 2017, Yunnan-Asean trade volume reached 5.78 billion yuan, repesenting a year-on-year growth of 10.1 percent and making up 63.07 percent of the province𠏋 foreign trade.

Yunnan also maintained close economic ties with Guangxi. In the first seven months of 2017, Guangxi businesses invested 14.06 billion yuan to carry out 203 Yunnan projects, a year-on-year growth of 49.8 percent.

By Eric Wang, Zhu Hai in Guangxi