China, VN step up cooperation in trade, agriculture, logistics

Delegates to the seminar

The event, hosted by the Vietnamese Embassy in China in coordination with Sichuan’s authorities, brought together representatives of nearly 200 businesses along with government officials from the two countries.

Addressing the event, Dang Minh Khoi, Vietnamese Ambassador to China, asserted that China is one of Viet Nam’s most important trade and investment partners with the bilateral trade posting US$147.8 billion last year, up 21.2% on year. 

He emphasized opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises and localities in Chengdu - a big economic, financial, technological and cultural center in western China with a population of nearly 91 million, gross domestic product (GDP) at 600 billion USD and a growth rate of 8% in 2018.

Vice Governor of Sichuan province Li Yunze highlighted the cooperation outcomes across fields, notably economics, trade and agriculture between Viet Nam and China in general, and Viet Nam and the Chinese province in particular. 

He expressed hope for enhanced exchanges and result-oriented collaboration with Vietnamese localities in education, culture, health care and tourism.

The provincial official further said he has high expectations of the increasing trade volume between Viet Nam and Sichuan province and further bilateral cooperation in logistics towards building up inter-regional logistics chains.

He pledged to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese firms to operate in Sichuan, and encourage high-quality businesses from Sichuan to invest in Viet Nam.

Following the seminar, the delegation of the MARD, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Viet Nam’s northern mountainous province of Thai Nguyen and Vietnamese businesses visited some economic, commercial, agricultural and logistics facilities in Sichuan. 

 By Hoang Ha