On the morning of August 4, the 2023 ASEAN - China (Shandong) SMEs Conference for Cooperation and Development opened in Dezhou. With the theme of "Discussing New Opportunities for Development and Releasing New Momentum for Cooperation", the conference was jointly hosted by the Shandong Provincial People's Government and the ASEAN-China Centre, and organized by the Dezhou Municipal People's Government, the Shandong Provincial People's Government Foreign Affairs Office, the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology and the China-ASEAN Business Association Federation. More than 180 Chinese and foreign guests gathered online and offline to talk about friendship, opportunities, and development.

Wang Guiying, Vice Governor of Shandong Province, Shi Zhongjun, Secretary-General of China-ASEAN Centre, Pehin Dato Rahmani Dato Basir，Ambassador of Brunei to China, Jaime FlorCruz, Philippine Ambassador to China, Benzhan Xi Ongpan, Bounchanh Sivongphanh, Party Secretary and Governor of Xieng Khouang Province, Laos, Sanmugan Subramaniam, chargé d'affaires ad interim of the Malaysian Embassy in China, Tian Weidong, Secretary of the Dezhou Municipal Party Committee, Zhu Kaiguo, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and Mayor, Mou Chunyan and Chen Haiming, Vice Mayors, and Li Yongping, Member of the Party Committee Vice-President of our school, attended the opening ceremony.

Wang Guiying briefly introduced the relevant information of Shandong Province during her speech. She said that in recent years, Shandong has attached great importance to strengthening cooperation with ASEAN, and economic and trade exchanges between the two sides have shown a strong growth trend. This conference is committed to building a platform for small and medium-sized enterprises, promoting exchanges and cooperation, and contributing to the construction of a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. We are willing to cooperate for win-win results and promote new improvements in bilateral trade exchanges; Mutual assistance and cooperation to promote the new upgrading of industrial cooperation; Mutual benefit and reciprocity, cultivate new highlights of SME cooperation; Learn from each other and write a new chapter of people-to-people exchanges. We sincerely invite all guests to walk and see more in Shandong to help us do our work better.

At the opening ceremony, Shi Zhongjun, Secretary-General of the China-ASEAN Centre, Pehin Dato Rahmani Dato Basir，Ambassador of Brunei to China, Jaime FlorCruz, Philippine Ambassador to China, Benzhan Xi Ongpan, Bounchanh Sivongphanh, Party Secretary and Governor of Xieng Khouang Province, Laos, Sanmugan Subramaniam, chargé d'affaires ad interim of the Malaysian Embassy in China, and other officials delivered speeches. Satvinder Singh, ASEAN Deputy Secretary-General, Yanqi Hou, Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN, and Manotoc, Governor of Ilocos Norte Province expressed their congratulations on the success of the conference in their video speeches, elaborated on the importance of promoting exchanges and cooperation among small and medium-sized enterprises, and expressed their contribution to strengthening economic and trade exchanges between China and ASEAN countries.

Tian Weidong gave a briefing on the relevant information of Dezhou City. He said that he is willing to join hands with friends in ASEAN and Dezhou to open new and deeper cooperation, share new opportunities for cooperation and development, cultivate new momentum for industrial cooperation, expand new space for economic and trade cooperation, and write a new chapter of cultural exchanges. We look forward to forging relationships with more cities in ASEAN and joining hands with more enterprises, to deepen friendship and make cooperation more pragmatic.

At the opening ceremony, 7 economic, trade and cultural cooperation projects such as joint postgraduate training and agricultural machinery export between our university and Tunku Abdul Rahman University signed contracts on site, and the "China-ASEAN Traditional Chinese Medicine Exchange and Cooperation Center (Dezhou)" and "The Landmark Capital of BSD - ASEAN Pavilion " were unveiled.

On the afternoon of August 4, Bin Che, Party Secretary met with Jaime FlorCruz, Philippine Ambassador to China, Pehin Dato Rahmani Dato Basir，Ambassador of Brunei to China, and Sanmugan Subramaniam, chargé d'affaires ad interim of the Malaysian Embassy in China. Chebin briefly introduced the basic information of the school and the educational and cultural exchanges with ASEAN countries. He said that China and ASEAN countries are good partners who depend on each other and share a common destiny, and exchanges in various fields have become increasingly close in recent years. At present, Dezhou is actively building a series of platforms such as docking with the northern fulcrum city of ASEAN and Shandong ASEAN Research Center, which provide good cooperation opportunities for all parties. It is hoped that all parties will continue to expand exchanges and cooperation in education, culture, youth and other fields, and contribute to building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

During the meeting, the Huangmei Dialogue, the China (Shandong)-ASEAN Business Exchange Fair and Visiting and Exchange activities were also held.

On the afternoon of August 4, the 2023 China (Shandong)-ASEAN Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Cooperation and Development Conference - Shandong Serving the "The Community with a Shared Future for China and ASEAN" Academic Conference, guided by the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Shandong Province, co-hosted by the Foreign Affairs Office of the Dezhou Municipal People's Government and Dezhou University, and undertaken by the ASEAN Research Center of Dezhou University, was held. The meeting invited experts and scholars from the government, academia, business circles and other fields to discuss the theory and practice of local services for China - the establishment of the ASEAN Community of Shared Future around the establishment of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0. At the meeting, Xu Ningning, Executive President of China-ASEAN Business Council, Luo Lin, Director of the Country and Regional Research Secretariat under the Ministry of Education, Mao Haoran, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages of China University of Petroleum, Lin Yongliang, Director of the Center for Contemporary World Studies of the International Liaison Department of the CPC Central Committee, Gao Minghua, Director of the Research Center for Corporate Governance and Enterprise Development of Beijing Normal University, Mi Liang, Dean of the Law School of Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, and Wang Zichang, Professor of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at Jinan University, and other experts focused on China from the perspective of civilization dialogue. The report was made on the theme of building a community with a shared future in ASEAN.

On the morning of August 5th, the academic salon-Shandong service "The Community with a Shared Future for China and ASEAN" research topic exchange meeting was held. Wang Shaobing, Deputy Director of the Asia Department of the Shandong Provincial People's Government Foreign Affairs Office, and Li Yongping, Member of the Party Committee and Vice President of Dezhou University, delivered speeches respectively. The meeting invited Professor Wang Zichang, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at Jinan University and Wang Fudong, the International Studies Research Center of Shandong Academy of Social Sciences as commentators, and 9 sub-project leaders reported on the phased results of the research project. The meeting laid the foundation for the high-quality completion of the key research topics of the Shandong Provincial People's Government Foreign Affairs Office.

The Office of our University, the Publicity Department, the Office of Academic Affairs, the Office of Academic Research, the Office of International Exchange and Cooperation, the School of Law, the School of Chinese Literature, the School of Foreign Languages, the School of Music, School of Physical Education, School of Economics and Management, School of Resources, Environment and Planning, School of International Education, and the ASEAN Research Center participated in the above activities.