Forum aims to bolster Vietnam’s ties with southern China localities hinh anh 1A stall of Vietnamese farm produce on the sidelines of the forum (Photo: VNA) 
 
Guangdong (VNA) – A forum on promoting investment and trade cooperation between Vietnam and China took place in Guangdong, China on June 25 as part of activities in the framework of the 7th conference reviewing cooperation between Vietnam’s ministries and localities and Guangdong.

Opening the forum, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung noted that Vietnam has an average GDP growth of 6.6 percent a year during the past three years, one of the highest growth rates in the region and the world.

The country earned nearly 500 billion USD from exports in 2018, ranked among the top 30 economies with largest foreign trade revenues in the world, he said, adding that Vietnam is a member of many new-general free trade agreements, with the latest being the EU-Vietnam FTA to be signed at the end of this month.

 The Deputy FM highlighted encouraging progress in the economic-trade partnership between Vietnam and China, with Vietnam being the largest trade partner of China in ASEAN and the 8th largest in the world for many consecutive years. 

He said China’s Greater Bay Area plan released recently creates good opportunities to promote collaboration between Vietnam and the potential southern region of China.

Vice Governor of  Guangdong province Ouyang Weimin also stressed the big size of Guangdong’s economy, which was worth nearly 1,500 billion USD in 2018. The province also accounts for nearly one quarter of China’s total foreign trade with 1,100 billion USD, ranking first among Chinese localities throughout the past 33 years.

The Vice Governor proposed four points to push forward cooperation between Guangdong and Vietnamese localities, including sharing development opportunities in the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau; bolstering bilateral investment and trade ties; promoting exchanges in finance; and deepening tourism and education partnerships.

The forum attracted the participation of delegates from ministries, agencies and localities of Vietnam and Guangdong along with more than 300 guests from businesses of both sides.

In the framework of the forum, Deputy FM Trung, Vice Governor Ouyang Weimin and other delegates visited stalls introducing Vietnam’s dairy products, fruits and confectionery.

The 7th conference reviewing cooperation between Vietnam’s ministries and localities and Guangdong was held on June 24.-VNA   
VNA