Hosted by the Ministry of Commerce and organized by CCPIT, the 1^st training session for staff members of business associations in ASEAN was launched on April 9, 2007 in China, during which business association staff and government officials, coming from ASEAN countries Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos and Burma, were going to attend a two-week training.

At the opening ceremony, CCPIT Vice Chairman Dong Songgen met with the trainees. As the first training session launched by China for ASEAN business association staff, Dong indicated that, this program aimed at enhancing mutual understanding, deepening bilateral trade cooperation, and consolidating China-ASEAN ties. Du Zetian, vice director of Conference Dept., has delivered an opening speech. The trainees have then expressed their thanks to Chinese government and CCPIT for being such an exceptional host. They’ve also shown their belief that this training program would be a good opportunity for them to acquire better knowledge of China as well as to promote bilateral cooperation among governments, business associations and enterprises. Zhang Xiaoli and Zhang Shiwei, CCPIT chief representative and representative in Singapore, together with those of Liaison Department in charge of ASEAN affairs also attended the meeting.