More than 500 deals were struck, ranging from big data centers to healthcare projects, at one of Southeast Asia’s most important trade and investment fairs, which closed on Sept 15 in the southern Chinese city of Nanning, officials said.

The four-day China-ASEAN Expo attracted over 2,700 enterprises and some 80,000 visitors. And the organizers say it shows how China and ASEAN countries have grown together.

“The expo has always worked as a platform to create business opportunities within China and ASEAN countries. This year, with the theme of ‘constructing the Maritime Silk Road,’ we have also linked these countries and development opportunities to areas outside the region,” said Wang Lei, secretary-general of the China-ASEAN EXPO secretariat.

“And better China-ASEAN relations go hand in hand with the development of the Belt and Road Initiative.”

Syed Saud Ahmed of Atiya Enterprises, a furniture and handicraft company, told CGTN that business had been good for him.

“Everything you see here is sold out, all sold out. Our sales in China grew three times in the last three years.”

Expectations are high for more success.

Gao Cong, of BGI Agriculture, a branch of the heavyweight bio-science company BGI, said the room for cooperation with ASEAN countries is huge.

“We specialize in genetic breeding and are backed by a big gene data bank. There is a lot of room for growth with ASEAN countries, with their vast pool of genetic diversity and need for preservation,” Gao said.

And multiple joint development plans are in the making as a result of the expo.

A case in point is a hi-tech industrial park proposed by Chinese Pacific Construction and Indonesian PT Famindo International Sentral Teknologi which has an investment projected at $5 billion.