On June 8, Secretary-General LIM Byung-jin attended the welcome dinner for the "2023 RCEP Local Government and Friendly City Cooperation (Huangshan) Forum" hosted by WANG Qingxian, governor of Anhui Province.

The dinner was attended by diplomats such as LIN Songtian, chairman of the China People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries; YU Hong, ambassador of Department of Asian Affairs, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs; SHI Zhongjun, secretary-general of the ASEAN Centre; TIN Maung Swe, ambassador of Myanmar to China; and KIM Yeong-jun, Korean Consul-General in Shanghai, as well as government officials such as QIN Junfeng, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Anhui Province. Mr. Lim introduced NEAR and asked for closer cooperation in the future.

Prior to the dinner, Mr. Lim also took advantage of the opportunity attending the "2023 RCEP Local Government and Friendly City Cooperation (Huangshan) Forum and had a meeting with SUN Yong, vice governor of Anhui Province. During the meeting, Mr. Lim introduced NEAR's recent activities and discussed ways to strengthen exchange between the NEAR Secretariat and Anhui Province. It included his request for Anhui Province to send a high-level delegation to the 14th NEAR General Assembly scheduled to be held this coming October.

The meeting was also attended by SHI Zhongjun, Secretary-General of the ASEAN Centre in China.