Businesspeople have signed 81 international cooperation projects involving an investment of US$3.249 billion at the ongoing Fourth China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO).

"Contracts signed between Chinese and ASEAN businesspeople continue to play a major role at this year's Expo," said Chen Ruixi, director of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region's business promotion bureau, on Monday in Nanning, the permanent venue for the Expo.

Of all the 81 projects, 37 were signed between China and ASEAN countries, involving US$1.19 billion, or 37 percent of the total. Contracts signed with Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia take up 74 percent of the total value.

Manufacturing cooperation programs continue to take up the biggest portion of all the contracts concluded, with 39 projects involving US$1.94 billion signed at the Expo.

A labor cooperation contract involving 1,000 people was endorsed between north China's Shanxi province and Singapore. Organizers said this is the first labor transfer contract ever signed in the Expo's four-year history.

"China and the ASEAN have great potential for human resources cooperation. The program is the rationalization of labor between the two sides," Chen said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2007)