NANNING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The 7th China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Expo has helped forge closer ties between China and ASEAN nations and promote the operation of China-ASEAN free trade area (CAFTA), an official with the organizing committee said here Sunday.

The six-day event, which closed here Sunday in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, had been "productive" and "fruitful", said Chen Wu, Vice Co-chair and Secretary General of the China-ASEAN Expo Organizing Committee, and also Guangxi's Vice Governor.

"The Expo has reinforced the China-ASEAN strategic partnership, strengthened regional economic cooperation and facilitated the operation of the CAFTA," said Chen at the closing ceremony of the Expo.

This year's Expo is the first one since the establishment of the much-anticipated CAFTA, which was formally launched on Jan.1, 2010.

With a population of 1.9 billion people and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of 6 trillion U.S. dollars, CAFTA ranks as the world's third largest trade zone following the North American FTA and the European FTA.

As of 4 p.m. Sunday, trade deals signed at this year's expo were worth 1.71 billion U.S. dollars, up 3.5 percent from last year's event, while a total of 135 cross-border economic cooperation projects had been signed with investment up 3 percent from the 6th Expo to 6.69 billion U.S. dollars, he said.

Among them, 58 investment deals were signed between Chinese enterprises and those from ASEAN countries, with a total investment of 2.66 billion U.S.dollars, he said.

Under the theme "Free Trade and New Opportunities" this year, a total of 10 high-level forums were held on the sidelines of the expo, including the China-ASEAN Customs-Trade Cooperation Forum and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, said Chen.

Jia Qinglin, chairman of China's National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the event that cementing and reinforcing the China-ASEAN strategic partnership is in the common interests of the two sides.

Angel Lam, a senior representative of the ASEAN Secretariat, said at the closing ceremony that as the first China-ASEAN Expo since the establishment of CAFTA, this year's Expo had been a "historical" one.

The establishment of CAFTA marked a new era in China and ASEAN's strategic partnership and an important step in the development of regional integration and friendship, she said, citing Boediono, Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia.

The Expo had already become an important means to boost the economic development of both China and the ASEAN nations, she said.

According to Chen, from next year on, the annual Expo will be held from the third Saturday of every October.

Malaysia will be the theme nation of the next year's meeting. Environmental protection will be the theme.

Chen said cooperation between ASEAN nations and China has expanded from the initial five sectors to the current 10.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam with a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers.