Rural people's livelihoods have greatly improved. The number of locals living under the poverty line - about 3,500 yuan per person annually - had been reduced to 2.67 million by last year from 21 million in 1978. By year's end, it is expected to further decline to 1.52 million.

The urbanization rate has climbed to 49.2 percent from 10.61 percent in 1978.

With land and sea links, Guangxi has boosted its ASEAN trade and exchanges through venues and events including the China-ASEAN Information Harbor, China-Malaysia industrial park and the China-ASEAN Expo.

The expo, held consecutively for 15 years, has attracted in all 746,000 traders from home and abroad.

Nanning, its host, has become a critical channel for promoting cooperation and exchange between China and ASEAN countries.

"We are now upgrading the expo with regard to specialization, internalization and informationization to better build the China-ASEAN community of a shared future as well as the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area," Lu said.

Guangxi pioneered the "single-window system" in international trade, in which cross-border traders need to submit regulatory documents only at one location.

In 2017, the region's foreign trade volume reached $57.2 billion, 212.4 times that of 1978. ASEAN has been Guangxi's largest trade partner for 17 consecutive years.

"The top political task and greatest development chance is to transform President Xi Jinping's hope for Guangxi into reality," Lu said.

In 2015, Xi urged Guangxi to become China's pathway to ASEAN, a new strategic pivot in Southwest and Central China's opening-up, and a dynamic portal connecting the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt.

Shi Ruipeng contributed to this story.