President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the 18th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, which opened Friday in Nanning, the capital city of South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Hailing the all-around cooperation since the establishment of dialogue relations 30 years ago, Xi said China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have become each other's largest trading partners with the most dynamic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

The two sides have been working jointly to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating the spirit of helping each other and sharing weal and woe for a community with a shared future, he said.

Last November, Xi made a four-pronged proposal for building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future at the opening ceremony of the 17th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, which has received positive response from ASEAN countries and relevant cooperation has been advancing.

China is willing to strengthen strategic mutual trust with ASEAN, deepen cooperation in fighting the pandemic, economy, trade and other areas, and promote the early coming into force and implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as well as high-quality joint construction of Belt and Road, so as to forge a higher-level strategic partnership and jointly maintain the good momentum of regional prosperity and development, he said.

The 18th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, with the theme "sharing opportunities created by the new land-sea corridor, building the China-ASEAN community with a shared future," is being held from Sept 10 to 13.