The 14th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) will be held September 12-15 at the International Convention & Exhibition Center in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The theme of the 14th CAEXPO is "jointly build the 21st century maritime silk road, promote regional economic integration through tourism." 

This is the first time that countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt have been invited to attend the expo. China and the Kazakh government are scheduled to jointly host the 1st China-Kazakhstan Sub-national Cooperation Forum, presented by the visiting state leaders of both countries. 

According to Gao Feng, China's Ministry of Commerce spokesperson, "Kazakhstan attaches great importance to be the special invited guest for this expo. First Deputy Prime Minister Askar Mamin will lead more than 200 delegates to attend this expo, more than 400 senior officials and entrepreneurs from more than 35 provinces will discuss cooperation in areas such as energy, industrial capacity, and tourism in order to inject more impetus to the development of bilateral ties." 

This year's CAEXPO will for the first time feature state leaders from countries outside of the China-ASEAN region including Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen and Kazakhstan's First Deputy Prime Minister Askar Mamin. 

The NICEC, the main venue for the expo, will cover a total exhibition area of 124,000 meters, with a new hall of 14,000 meters put into use. Among them, ASEAN countries will have 1,523 booths, up 7.2% from the year earlier. All ASEAN member countries will have their commodity pavilions, including Brunei, the country of honor for the 14th CAEXPO.

The Belt & Road Exhibition will be unveiled, with focus on distinctive products from the countries along the routes, including Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, India, Egypt, Nepal, Pakistan and Garner. Exhibitors will come from 16 countries beyond the China-ASEAN region and use 182 booths, growing by 38.9% compared to last year, representing an all-time high.  

The 14th CAEXPO has attracted over 2,000 enterprises who will be exhibiting at the event. Apart from showcasing the latest products, participating countries will also promote their latest  industrial parks, investment policies and projects and services 

It will also mark the first time that the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, the European American Chamber of Commerce, the British Consulate-General in Guangzhou and Kazakhstan organize their buying missions to the CAEXPO and host promotion conferences and sourcing meetings for industry players. 

The expo will feature the making of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to host 36 high-end events on the sidelines. Apart from these events, there are established meeting mechanisms, production capacity cooperation, information harbors, technology transfers, finance, environmental protection, culture, agriculture, mining, poverty alleviation and a think tank.