On November 28, 2020, two international students from the International Education Institute were invited to visit the 17^th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, Guangxi Province.

The China-ASEAN Expo (hereinafter referred to as the CAEXPO) is an international economic and trade event jointly hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of China, the competent economic and trade departments of the governments of 10 ASEAN countries (including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia) and the ASEAN Secretariat. It has played an important role in promoting the friendly cooperation between China and ASEAN and serving the construction of the "Belt and Road" Initiative, and has become very influential internationally, especially in Southeast Asia region. At the invitation of the organizer of the CAEXPO, the institute selected a doctoral international student, Emile Niringiyimana and a postgraduate student, Gasana Abednego, to attend the expo.

The two international students mainly visited the commodity trade exhibition area. In the Chinese commodity exhibition area, international students saw plenty of smart energy and power equipment, construction machinery and transportation vehicles, food processing and packaging machinery, etc. Gasana Abednego said what impressed him most was the new solar energy system products, which were widely used and realized multi-energy complementation with excellent and reliable performance.

In addition, international students were also interested in new energy battery systems of environmental protection and high integration, artificial intelligence vehicles, etc., and made exchanges with the technical personnel in the exhibition area.

At the expo, international students also saw epidemic prevention and health supplies and equipment and special agricultural products and intelligent communication technology exhibition and equipment of China and ASEAN countries. They stayed in the China-ASEAN Information Harbor for a long time. The technical personnel at the Information Harbor exchanged with the international students on the topics of 5G, artificial intelligence, Beidou application, digital silk road construction, etc.; through the exchange, the international students realized that for most developing countries in Southeast Asia region, the rapid development of digital economy reaps the dividends of digital industrialization development, and the digital transformation promotes the economic and social transformation and upgrading.

In the "Belt and Road" international exhibition area, all kinds of exhibits, such as specialty foods, consumer goods and service products, had their own characteristics. This CAEXPO also adopted the mode of "physical exhibition + cloud exhibition" and added Internet transaction modes such as "selling through livestreaming". International students couldn’t help sighing with emotion, "Enterprises from countries along the ‘Belt and Road’ gather here. A variety of products and trading forms make people experience a colorful trade event."

After the visit, the international students also had cultural exchanges with the exhibitors of domestic and foreign enterprises at the CAEXPO, and experienced folk cultural activities, such as "Nanning International Folk Song Arts Festival" and "Customs of Southeast Asia".

At the CAEXPO, the international students experienced really economic and trade activities and saw mutual dialogues and exchanges among governments, enterprises, experts and scholars. This enabled them to have a deep understanding of commodity trading mode, foreign investment, product technology promotion and other business activities, and appreciate the broad world of international trade. They also felt the vigorous vitality of Chinese import and export trade, had a more comprehensive understanding of China’s foreign trade, were deeply touched by China’s concept of "win-win cooperation" in foreign trade and "friendly and neighborly" attitude, and truthfully experienced China’s responsibility of "Building the ‘Belt and Road’ and Strengthening Digital Economy Cooperation" as a major country.