Yan Zhiyong, Party committee secretary and chairman of POWERCHINA attended the opening ceremony of the 17th China-ASEAN Expo and 17th China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.

The ceremony was held on Nov 27 in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in South China.

At the Round-table Dialogue between State Leader of Laos and CEOs from China -- which was part of the event -- Yan gave a keynote speech.

He also held talks with the investment department of the Laotian government on the status of his company's investment projects in Laos, as well on the government's plans for the national power grid and measures currently in place to resolve power consumption issues.

Yan Zhiyong, Party committee secretary and chairman of POWERCHINA delivers a keynote speech in Nanning on Nov 27. [Photo/POWERCHINA]

POWERCHINA entered the market in Laos in 1996 and after 24 years of operation, it has formed two major business segments: project investment and project contracting.

It has extensively participated in the power, transportation, industrial and civil construction, municipal and water conservation fields in the Southeast Asian country.

The company is China's largest investor and contractor in Laos. It has independently developed and built the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project there and is also a major participant in the China-Laos railway project, which will boost the country's economic development and the existing friendship between China and Laos.

The China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit is held every autumn in Nanning, inviting a total of 54 leaders from China and ASEAN countries to attend the events.

They are currently the highest-level, largest and most influential international economic and trade events between China and ASEAN. As such, they have played an important role in serving the construction of the Belt and Road.

The Round-table Dialogue between State Leader of Laos and CEOs from China -- held under the framework of the summit -- has been held 11 times since its inception in 2009.

It has invited state leaders from Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia and other ASEAN countries -- as well as the CEOs of Chinese companies that play an important role in promoting bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

To date, a number of major bilateral cooperation projects with a cumulative value of more than $60 billion had been promoted.