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 USD 500 billion 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.
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A stall of Vietnamese farm produce on the sidelines of the forum |
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 eighth 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 USD 1,500 billion in 2018. The province also accounts for nearly one quarter of China’s total foreign trade with USD 1,100 billion, 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 booths introducing Vietnam’s dairy products, fruits and confectionery.
The seventh conference reviewing cooperation between Vietnam’s ministries and localities and Guangdong was held on June 24.
Source: VNA