The 9th East Asian Economic Cooperation Forum kicks off in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Thursday.

The forum, with the theme of "Integration of the east Asian regional economy, new opportunities for regional development," has attracted more than 30 experts and scholars from countries including China, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.

"Since 1995, eight east Asian economic forums have been held in south China's Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Japan's Okinawa and the Republic of Korea's Cheju-do, which have given a big boost to economic cooperation between east Asian countries," said Gao Shangquan, president with China Research Institute for Economic Restructuring, at the opening ceremony.

In 1970s, east Asia trade accounted for only 5.4 percent of the world's total. It increased to almost 20 percent at the beginning of this century.

Currently, the combined GNP of the 13 countries of east Asia stands at 7trillion US dollars. The trade between China and Japan has reached more than 100 billion US dollars and the trade between China and the Republic of Korea has also increased by five times over the past five years.

The east Asian economic forums are cosponsored by the National Institute for Research Advancement in Japan and China Development Institute.

Source: Xinhua