From June 4 to 6, 2025, the 2025 RCEP Local Governments and Friendship Cities Cooperation (Huangshan) Forum was successfully held in Huangshan, Anhui Province. The event was co-hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and the People's Government of Anhui Province. Wu Weihua, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, delivered a speech and officially declared the forum open.
Held under the theme "Regional Partnership for Common Development", the forum featured a series of thematic events, including the Opening Ceremony and Keynote Speeches; Dialogue on NEVs and Advanced Photovoltaic Industrial and Supply Chains Cooperation among RCEP Member Countries, RCEP Member Countries and Yangtze River Delta Business Youth Dialogue, Dialogue on the Cooperation & Development of Specialty Agricultural Product and Cross-border E-commerce, Dialogue among Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs of RCEP Member Countries. A variety of supporting activities were also organized, including Huangshan Night, product exhibition, field visits and other business matchmaking events. These activities collectively fostered practical cooperation in economic and trade, culture, and industry among subnational governments, providing a valuable platform for RCEP member states to deepen collaboration and pursue mutual benefit.
At the opening ceremony, Liang Yanshun, Secretary of the CPC Anhui Provincial Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People's Congress, Yang Wanming, President of the CPAFFC, Shi Zhongjun, Secretary-General of the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), Bhokin Bhalakula, Former President of the Thai National Assembly and President of the Thai-Chinese Culture and Economy Association; Yeo Joong-hyeop, Deputy Governor of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, Republic of Korea, and Lee Hee-sup, Secretary-General of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, gave remarks respectively. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Prasert Chanthararuangthong and ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn sent video remarks. Wu Hailong, President of the China Public Diplomacy Association, and Tan Kok Wai, Adviser to the Democratic Action Party of Malaysia and Member of Parliament, delivered keynote speeches. The opening ceremony was moderated by Wang Qingxian, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Anhui Provincial Committee and Governor of Anhui Province.
Vice Chairman Wu Weihua emphasized that advancing the RCEP is a crucial step in China's commitment to high-level opening-up. The Chinese government is dedicated to working with all parties to promote regional economic integration and inject certainty and momentum into global free trade. Efforts should be pulled together to unlock the potential of RCEP, maximize its policy benefits, elevate the quality of the RCEP forum, foster an enabling environment, and build high-level platforms to accelerate the development of a closer Asia-Pacific community with a shared future.
Liang Yanshun noted that the entry into force of the RCEP has brought sustained institutional benefits through tariff reductions, simplified customs procedures, and improved trade and investment facilitation, contributing greater predictability to the global economy. He affirmed Anhui's commitment to implementing the strategic decisions of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, implementing the strategy of "three hubs and one zone" (a hub for scientific and technological innovation, a hub for emerging industries, a hub for reform and opening-up, and a zone for green transition of socio-economic development"), and elevating openness, deepening industrial cooperation, and fostering broader exchanges to write a new chapter of win-win cooperation.
President Yang Wanming stressed that, cooperation among subnational governments and friendship cities forms the foundation and driving force of regional collaboration and shared prosperity, and an inevitable choice for sustainable local development. In line with the important instructions by President Xi Jinping on strengthening people-to-people diplomacy and fully leveraging its role as a primary channel for people-to-people diplomacy and a key platform for international friendship city cooperation, the CPAFFC is committed to working with all parties to jointly implement the Global Development Initiative in the spirit of openness and cooperation, strengthen popular support for friendly cooperation by deepening cultural exchanges, and promote high-quality RCEP implementation at the subnational level based on an expanded network of partners, thereby contributing new momentum to the development and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region.
Bhokin Bhalakula expressed Thailand's firm support for initiatives that foster regional integration, and called for enhanced exchanges and collaboration among cities of RCEP member states, the establishment of innovation demonstration zones for dynamic cities and deeper cooperation in developing smart economies, with the shared goal of building a peaceful, prosperous, and forward-looking future.
The forum achieved substantial outcomes. The 2025 Report on RCEP Regional Cooperation and Development was released. The Huangshan Initiative on establishing the RCEP Member States World Heritage Cooperation Alliance was issued. A total of 27 cooperation agreements were signed, covering areas such as friendship city partnerships (e.g., between Anhui Province and Cambodia's Sihanoukville Province and South Korea's Gangwon Province), and agreements in economic and trade, culture, science and technology among RCEP member states. Participants unanimously affirmed their commitment to leveraging the forum to deepen subnational cooperation in trade and investment, education, smart cities, digital economy, and new energy sectors, injecting fresh impetus into regional economic integration.
This year's forum featured Thailand as the guest of honor and drew approximately 300 participants, including: diplomats and representatives from the other 14 RCEP member countries' missions in China, delegates from subnational governments and international friendship cities, representatives from international organizations and businesses, officials from China's General Administration of Customs and Ministry of Commerce, representatives from 11 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across China, and institutional leaders from Hong Kong and Macao, including the Hong Kong Association for External Friendship, as well as scholars, business associations, and media representatives.
Launched in 2023 by the CPAFFC and the People's Government of Anhui Province, the RCEP Local Governments and Friendship Cities Cooperation (Huangshan) Forum is the only national-level institutional forum under the RCEP framework.
