Enterprises and private companies should play a bigger role in the regional economy and create more opportunities for economic development, said Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi Wednesday in Nanning.

Wu made this remark at the opening of the first China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) should join hands to seize opportunities and face challenges so as to stand firm in the global competition, she said.

More emphasis need to be put on activating enterprises and private companies to speed up the establishment of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area as well as mobilizing governments, Wu noted, adding that governments should cooperate better with them.

The first China-ASEAN Expo and the summit would strengthen ties between China and ASEAN countries and bring a lot profits and cooperative opportunities to both sides, said Wu.

Statistics from Chinese Ministry of Commerce show that trade volume between China and ASEAN soared at a pace of 20 percent a year on average since 1990. A historic record was set in 2003 when the trade between the two sides valued 78.2 billion US dollars, 90 times as much as that in 1978.

Since 1990, ASEAN has been China's fifth largest trade partner in the world and the biggest one out of the developing world.

The first nine months of this year witnessed a jump of 35.6 percent over the same period of last year for the bilateral trade which reached 75.4 billion US dollars.

The first China-ASEAN Expo is held from Nov. 3 to 6 and the summit is held from Nov. 3 to 4 in Nanning.