CCA Co-Chairs China-Asean Building Committee

• 31 December 2015
• Association Focus
• 1028 Views

To promote ties between the building material industries of ASEAN and China, the China-ASEAN Building Materials Industry Cooperation Committee (CAFTA) was launched in early June 2014. CCA was elected as the first ASEAN co-chair.

On the ASEAN side, CCA Vice-Chairman Oknha Hann Khieng was elected as Co-Chair. CCA represents constructors in Cambodia and has almost 70 members.

The committee vowed they would strengthen cooperation around information exchange, capacity building, and exhibitions and investigations.

On the Chinese side, the team elected Sun Xiangyuan, secretary-general of the China Building Materials Federation.

The committee agreed to assign one executive president from each participating country for both the China and ASEAN sides. So, they appointed Wang Bing, Chairman of Beijing New Building Material (Group) Co., Ltd. as Executive President of the Chinese side.

For the ASEAN side, they appointed Khamphai Silaxa, President of Lao National Construction Association, Ko Bing Liyong, Secretary-General of the Malaysia Hardware, Machinery & Building Material Dealers Association, and Thai Duy Sam, Secretary-General of the Vietnam Association for Building Materials as Executive Presidents.

The memorandum of establishment, obtained by Construction & Property Magazine in mid-June, stated that the ASEAN Co-Chair will be appointed according to an alphabetical rotation system, currently including only Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam as signatory parties. Other ASEAN countries’ building material groups haven’t formally registered with the group yet.

Representatives from the embassies of Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines in China attended the meeting on behalf of those ASEAN members to express support for the committee establishment.

“As China and ASEAN are opening markets to each other, there are new opportunities and challenges brought to the building material industry,” says the memorandum.

“Strengthening exchanges and cooperation among China’s and ASEAN’s building material industry will benefit both sides to make best use of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area,” it adds.

The committee will invite construction associations, building material industry associations and firms from other ASEAN countries to join.