In spite of the global financial crisis, mutual¹ investment activity between China and ASEAN continued to increase throughout 2008.

According to official statistics, China-ASEAN mutual investment levels had reached almost $60 billion by the end of 2008.

Five years ago, the trade volume between China and the ASEAN block was only $105.9 billion but in 2008, the volume had risen to $231.1 billion, an increase of 145 percent.

The Pan-Pearl River Delta² (PPRD) region includes the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous³ region, Guangdong, Yunnan, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces, as well as the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative⁴ regions.

The region's close geographical⁵ proximity⁶ to a number of member nations of ASEAN has seen the two establish increasingly close and significant links.

Established in 1967, ASEAN now has 10 member countries - Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Since the PPRD region established its own regular cooperation mechanism⁷ back in 2004, the PPRD Regional Cooperation and Development Forum⁸ and Trade Fair has become a major driving force in China's trade with the ASEAN-aligned nations.

The major products exported by the PPRD region to the ASEAN block include machinery⁹, IT products and textiles. At the same time, the region mainly imports raw materials from ASEAN, notably¹⁰ rubber, paper, oil, mineral ore and fruits.