Strong growth seen in VN-China commerce
VNGOP – As one of the most successful fields of the bilateral relationship, economic and trade cooperation between Việt Nam and China has been promoted to obtain a high growth rate.
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Móng Cái Border-gate to China |
China now tops among exporters to Việt Nam and ranks third in the list of importers from the Southeast Asian country.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Asia-Pacific Department, the trade turnover between the two countries sharply increased from over US $32 million in 1991 to US $10.4 billion in 2006. Up to October 2007, the figure reached US $12.1 billion, rising up by 20% against the previous year.
Making use their common borderlines, over the past years, Việt Nam’s seven border provinces (Quảng Ninh, Lạng Sơn, Cao Bằng, Hà Giang, Lào Cai, Lai Châu, and Điện Biên) and two Chinese counterparts Guangxi and Yunnan have closely worked together in economic development. Many trade areas, border markets, free economic zones have been founded and infrastructure system upgraded. These localities have also inked many agreements on economic cooperation, helping stabilize and improve people’s living standards as well as boosting the economic ties between the two countries.
The export volume via the border gates of Móng Cái, Hữu Nghị, and Đồng Đăng accounted for 75% of Việt Nam’s total export turnover to China, according to the Asia-Pacific Department.
In order to ensure a reasonable trade balance between the two countries, a number of solutions have been put into reality. The two sides have planned to accelerate the trade of major commodities (electromechanic products from China and crude oil, coffee, rubber and marine products from Việt Nam). Some interdisciplinary working teams have been also established to seek for new goods and draft the agreements on animal and plant quarantine, forming border-gate cities, and developing an economic corridor.
In recent years, enterprises of the two countries have proactively searched business chances in their respective markets through attending fairs, expos, seminars and other investment promotion programs.
At the Việt Nam-China Investment and Trade Cooperation Forum held in late October 2007 in China, the host Deputy Trade Minister Gao Hucheng affirmed that China would maintain to be Việt Nam’s biggest partner.
By Hoàng Nguyên
