More than 400 delegates from Vietnamese ministries, provincial and municipal People’s Committee, and more than 200 Vietnamese enterprises and 150 Chinese companies attended the recent Vietnam - Guangxi - China investment and trade seminar in Hanoi. The workshop was hosted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in coordination with the government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The event coincided with the visit of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region government delegation, led by its Secretary Liu Qibao, May 9-15.
Secretary Liu Qibao said Vietnam and Guangxi hold great opportunity for regional economic cooperation. The “Two Corridors, One Economic Belt” concept is a crucial, strategic cooperation proposed by the leaders of the two countries, based on the “One Axis, Two Wings” model: the Vietnam - Singapore economic corridor axis and cooperation between the Mekong region and Tonkin Gulf. This will help expand cooperation in various fields like transport, trade, investment, tourism, border gate construction, infrastructure, and tariff enforcement.
Mr. Liu Qibao said the two sides need to cooperate in building infrastructure and traffic systems, constructing expressways linking China’s Nanning to Vietnam’s Hanoi, and China’s Dongxing to Vietnam’s Haiphong City via Mong Cai of Quang Ninh Province, restoring and upgrading the railway system from Nanning to Hanoi to become a backbone railway for the economic corridor from Nanning to Singapore. In addition, the two sides need to boost cooperation in engineering, agriculture, tourism, energy, minerals, commodity circulation in ports, construction and hydropower plant development.
VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc said Guangxi Province, which shares a national borderline with three Vietnamese provinces and connects to Vietnam with both overland and waterway transport systems, plays a crucial role in economic and commercial exchange with Vietnam and other ASEAN countries.
Mr Loc said, while the China-ASEAN trade turnover exceeded US$140 billion, Vietnam-China trade was only US$10 billion. Thus, the two sides plan to increase trade turnover and reduce Vietnam’s import surplus. “The two countries need to exchange commodities in higher volumes and values,” he said.
In 2006, Guangxi-Vietnam bilateral trade turnover was around US$1.5 billion, or one sixth of total China-Vietnam trade revenues. Vietnamese exports to China increased 108.4 per cent and Vietnam became Guangxi’s largest trade partner in recent years.
During this event, 45 projects with a combined value of US$370 million were signed between Vietnamese and Guangxi companies, including 17 investment projects valued at US$190 million, 12 commercial projects valued at US$134 million and projects in other fields like tourism, mineral exploitation and processing, together valued US$47 million.
Lan Anh
Vietnamese
