Vietnam, China’s Guangdong province seek to beef up trade ties

Trade cooperation between Vietnam and Chinese province of Guangdong continues playing an important part in the Vietnam-China partnership, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has said.

Addressing a conference in Hanoi on April 14, which was jointly organised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the People’s Government of Guangdong province, the Deputy PM hailed the organisation of the conference, describing it as a great chance for the business communities of both sides to strengthen their connectivity.

It is expected to help enhance trade ties between Vietnam and China as well as Vietnamese localities and Guangdong in particular, thus reducing Vietnam’s trade surplus from China and contributing to fulfiling the target of raising two-way trade to 60 million USD by 2015, Minh said.

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) and Secretary of the Guangdong Party Committee Hu Chunhua

Despite the gloomy global economy, Vietnam and China have still enjoyed trade growth at an average of 30 percent annually in the past decade, the minister noted, adding that cooperation prospects between the two countries are still bright.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu said last year Vietnam-Guangdong trade hit nearly 12.3 billion USD, up 40 percent over 2012.

He said that by the end of February this year, the figure had already reached 1.71 billion USD. Vietnam’s exports to Guangdong were worth 720 million USD, a 19.4 percent rise, while its imports were valued at 995 million USD, a 7.5 percent over the same period last year.

Vietnam is currently accounting for 11.6 percent of the total trade between ASEAN countries with the Chinese province, Tu added.

According to Hu Chunhua, Secretary of the Guangdong Party Committee, Vietnam and Guangdong can supplement each other in natural resources and economics.

He also gave some proposals to boost bilateral partnership, including expanding investment and trade ties, speeding up the construction of joint economic zones and infrastructure system, and beefing up agro-fishery cooperation.

On the occasion, the two sides inked a number of trade and investment agreements in agriculture, electronics, telecommunication and education with a total value of over 200 million USD.