A number of initiatives were launched from January to July to promote China's economic and trade cooperation with ASEAN, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) said on Friday.
According to the CCPIT, 30 Chinese exhibition entities attended or hosted 81 trade exhibitions in ASEAN countries in the first seven months of this year. These exhibitions boasted a total floor space of 49,943 square meters and involved 4,083 companies, a 16.8-percent increase in exhibitors from the same period of 2023.
"We have also promoted the implementation of free trade agreements, including the RCEP, through running the RCEP Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum and other activities, continuously improving trade facilitation within the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA)," said Wang Linjie, spokeswoman of the CCPIT, at a press conference in Beijing on Friday.
From January to July, the national trade promotion system issued 212,400 CAFTA Preferential Tariff Certificates of Origin, up 54.18 percent year on year. The total value involved was 11.457 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 42.23 percent year on year.
ASEAN has remained as China's largest trading partner for four consecutive years, while China has also remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 14 years in a row.
China launches multiple initiatives to boost trade with ASEAN
Smoke from wildfires shrouding over many parts of Mato Grosso, the most severely impacted state by wildfires in Brazil, has caused discomfort among local residents as it persists due to prolonged heatwave.
According to statistics from the National Institute for Space Research, as of Friday, Brazil had recorded over 180,000 wildfires in 2024, with nearly 40,000 of them occurring in Mato Grosso state, ranking it first among all the states in Brazil.
Residents of Cuiaba, the capital of Mato Grosso, said while high temperatures and dry weather were typical in the city in previous years, the prolonged heatwave coupled with smoke this year is highly unusual.
"The smoke is worsening. The situation has been very dire over the past two months. We have not had rain for over 100 days. Low humidity, below 10 percent, is a huge problem, necessitating extensive use of humidifiers for us," said Guilherme Rodrigues Mendes, a resident.
"The weather is quite bad. I feel terrible. I have been sick at least three times. My throat is extremely dry, leading to coughing and feeling nauseous," said Navai, another resident.
According to the local fire department, 1,000 firefighters are battling fires across multiple locations in Mato Grosso. The state encompasses three vital biomes -- the Amazon rainforest, the Cerrado savannah, and the Pantanal wetlands. Currently, the fires in the Pantanal wetlands are largely contained, yet numerous active fire points persist in the Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savannah.
Wildfire smoke in Brazil's Mato Grosso state causes discomfort among locals
