On February 13, the 31st China-ASEAN Senior Officials' Consultation was successfully held in Ningbo. Under the joint arrangement of the Ningbo Foreign Affairs Office and the Publicity Department of the CPC Ningbo Municipal Committee, Mr. Dato' Sri Amran Mohamed Zin, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ASEAN Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) Leader of Malaysia who co-chaired the 31st Consultation with the Chinese side, was interviewed by the journalists from Ningbo TV and Ningbo Daily. In the interview, he spoke at length about the broad prospects for cooperation between Ningbo and Malaysia in areas such as port development, and discussed how Ningbo could play a greater role within the framework of China-ASEAN cooperation.
At the beginning of the interview, Mr. Dato' Sri Amran Mohamed Zin expressed his fondness for Ningbo. Coincidentally, he arrived on the day of the Lantern Festival. He told the journalists that the traditional festive atmosphere blended seamlessly with the charm of a modern metropolis, making this port city feel both vibrant and international.
Mr. Dato' Sri Amran Mohamed Zin noted that Ningbo Zhoushan Port is the world's busiest port in terms of cargo throughput, while Malaysia's Port Klang ranks among the world's top ten ports for container throughput and serves as a major transshipment hub for ASEAN countries. He reflected on the cooperation between the two ports. In 2004, they established a sister-port relationship. In 2015, Ningbo launched the Maritime Silk Road Port Cooperation Forum to jointly explore digitalization and green transformation in the shipping industry. In 2024, Ningbo's Zhenhai District and the Port Klang Free Trade Zone reached a cooperation agreement aimed at promoting high-quality development, with a focus on advancing in-depth collaboration across nine key areas, including enhancing connectivity between their respective free trade zones.
The growing connectivity between ports stands as a testament to the continued rise in bilateral trade between China and ASEAN countries. Last year, ASEAN remained China's largest trading partner. For Ningbo, ASEAN is its third-largest trading partner, with economic ties becoming increasingly robust.
Apart from trade, Ningbo has also shown its big strength in emerging industries. In April 2024, Malaysian automaker Proton established its China R&D center in Ningbo, showcasing the innovative interactions in the automobile industry between China and Malaysia. Mr. Dato' Sri Amran Mohamed Zin noted that through cooperation in areas such as auto parts supply and battery technology research, Ningbo will inject new impetus into the economic cooperation between China and ASEAN countries, fostering deeper collaboration in fields like the green economy and digital economy.
In recent years, people-to-people exchanges between Ningbo and Malaysia have also grown steadily in areas such as tourism, education and culture. Direct flights and visa-free policies have greatly facilitated these exchanges. Mr. Dato' Sri Amran Mohamed Zin expressed hope that the program titled "ASEAN-China Year of People-to-People Exchanges" will further deepen mutual understanding and cultural ties between Ningbo and Malaysia, laying a solid foundation for the future development of their bilateral relationship.
