VIENTIANE— Premier Li Keqiang said in Vientiane on Sept 7 that practical cooperation between ASEAN members and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea should be promoted steadily so as to safeguard regional peace and stability.

Premier Li made the remarks while attending the 19th summit of ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea). ASEAN leaders as well as Premier Li, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye attended the meeting.

While embracing the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the ASEAN+3 mechanism next year, Premier Li made a six-pronged proposal on the mechanism’s development to consolidate its role as the main channel of regional integration.

Relevant countries should strengthen financial security cooperation, deepen trade and investment cooperation, promote cooperation in agriculture and poverty reduction, advance inter-connectivity, innovate production capacity cooperation mode and increase people-to-people exchanges, Premier Li said.

As for financial security cooperation, the Premier said that countries should learn a lesson from financial crises in order to maintain financial stability.

As to trade and investment cooperation, Premier Li said China supports ASEAN’s leading role in negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and hopes negotiations could be accelerated to promote free trade and convenience.

Regarding to agricultural and poverty reduction cooperation, the Premier said China supports the strengthening of an emergency mechanism on rice storage and proposes to build a modern agricultural cooperation base and an East Asian animal husbandry exchange platform.

Concerning the inter-connectivity cooperation, Premier Li called for more alignment between China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative with ASEAN’s general guideline 2025 on inter-connectivity, adding that China is willing to deepen project cooperation with ASEAN countries with the assistance of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and other financing platforms.

Relating to innovating production capacity cooperation mode, the Premier said China, Japan and the Republic of Korea have their respective advantages in equipment manufacturing, infrastructure construction, capital and human resources, which could be used in cooperating with ASEAN countries.

China is also willing to work with Japan and the Republic of Korea to offer assistance to ASEAN nations on such fields as logistics and construction of supply chain to promote the economic integration in East Asia, he noted.

About people-to-people exchanges, Premier Li said that China encourages its people to travel in ASEAN countries, calling for joint efforts to tackle the problem of aging population.

The Premier arrived in Vientiane on Sept 6 to attend the 19th China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders’ meeting, the 19th meeting of the leaders of ASEAN-China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (10+3), and the 11th East Asia Summit. During his stay, Premier Li will also pay an official visit to Laos.