On 13 December 2017, the representatives of the 7th Joint Council (JC) Meeting of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) visited Yangshuo county of Guilin city. Leading Officials of Yangshuo Overseas Chinese Affairs Office accompanied the delegation during the visit.
The delegation visited the Baili New Village Demonstration Area of Kumquat Industry and Qixianfeng Countryside Eco-tourism Area. According to the briefing of local officials, Yangshuo has harnessed its special advantages in kumquat growing and processing, through technology innovation, policy support, market exploration and brand management, to gradually build the Yangshuo kumquat industry into a pillar industry with the largest cultivation area nationwide, best quality and advanced technology, which has made great contribution to the poverty reduction and prosperity. Yangshuo kumquat has already exported to ASEAN countries, namely Malaysia and the Philippines. Baili New Village now owns kumquat field of over 8 Mu (1 Mu=0.0667 hectares) and the kumquat industry contributed to 80% of the income of the local residents. With the rapid increase of income, Baili New Village has become a model of the new village construction in Guangxi and China at large.
Qixianfeng Countryside Ecotourism Area is located in the core area of Baili New Village Agricultural Demonstration Area. It owns a tea garden of over 1600 Mu and produces more than 100 tons of dry tea annually. The organic green tea produced in the area has been developed into the most popular tea locally. Based on a strategy of “Tourism + Industry”, Qixianfeng Countryside Ecotourism Area has played an exemplary role in promoting the local agricultural tourism and prosperity through combing the countryside leisure with ecotourism.
The delegation experienced kumquat picking and the tea art, and exchanged views with the local officials. They spoke highly of the achievements of Baili New Village through kumquat and tea growing as well as developing ecotourism to reduce poverty and promote prosperity. They said that both ASEAN and China have their agricultural specialties. They hoped that both sides should strengthen cooperation in related areas to learn the advanced experience, encourage the people to share high quality products of each other and achieve win-win outcomes.
The delegation expressed sincere thanks to ACC Secretariat for the meaningful arrangement of the visits. They said that they really enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Guilin. Through the visits to university, enterprise, new village and cultural tourism projects, they received better understanding of the social and economic development of Guilin as well as the potential for Guilin-ASEAN cooperation. They would like to actively support ASEAN countries to expand exchanges with Guilin and jointly push forward the ASEAN-China practical cooperation to produce more new outcomes.