On January 16, the "World Mayor Dialogue·Nanning" event opened in Nanning. Mayors or representatives of mayors from 12 cities from 8 countries including China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam gathered in Yongcheng to discuss development and jointly release the "Nanning Initiative". The event promoted the signing of 14 major exchange and cooperation projects, with foreign cooperation investment exceeding RMB 3.3 billion.

The Nanning Initiative proposes that all parties will deepen urban friendly exchanges and contribute to the promotion of a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future; deepen urban economic and trade cooperation so that the development results can better benefit the people of China and ASEAN countries; deepen the integration of urban people's hearts and make positive efforts to jointly build a peaceful, peaceful, prosperous, beautiful and friendly home in China-ASEAN.

In the main event of "World Mayor Dialogue·Nanning", mayors or mayor representatives from Nanning, China, Vientiane, Laos, Yangon, Myanmar, Surat Thani Province, Thailand, Kedah, Malaysia, Mangjie City, Vietnam, Siem Reap, Cambodia, and Matalan, Indonesia, jointly discussed the important topic of "Co-building China-ASEAN Friendly Home: Urban Openness and Cooperation", and offered suggestions to open up new paths for global urban governance and draw a new blueprint for regional sustainable development.

"In the morning, I will be able to drink old friends in Nanning. I can go to Hanoi to drink coffee at noon and to Kuala Lumpur to eat durian in the afternoon." Nanning Mayor Hou Gang introduced that the biggest advantage of Nanning's opening up to the outside world is that it is facing ASEAN. Nanning Airport has direct direct navigation with 10 ASEAN countries, forming a "four-hour aviation economic circle" and has "hard, soft, and heart-to-heart" with ASEAN.

Ren Son People's Committee, Chairman of the Vietnamese Lang Son People's Committee, is full of expectations for Vietnam-China cooperation. He said that he would strengthen the interconnection of border ports between the two countries and promote the construction of cross-border economic cooperation zones; develop cross-border tourism routes, hold cultural exchange activities; develop smart ports, optimize entry and exit procedures, and build cross-border e-commerce platforms.

During the event, Nanning City and Yangon City, Myanmar signed a memorandum of friendly exchange plans for 2025-2026. In addition, a concentrated signing ceremony for 14 major exchange and cooperation projects was held, with foreign cooperation investment of more than 3.3 billion yuan, covering many different fields such as friendly cities, education, tourism, logistics and transportation, environmental protection, and trade cooperation, reflecting a comprehensive and multi-level foreign exchange and cooperation pattern, deepening its ties with ASEAN countries from different dimensions. It is expected to drive the development of many related industries upstream and downstream industries, and will promote the optimization of industrial structure and the improvement of economic aggregate in Nanning and related regions of ASEAN countries. (Economic Daily reporter Tong Zheng, China County Economic News reporter Zhu Liurong)