A conference promoting trade and investment linkage between Vietnam and China’s Shandong province – a large-scale and important market of the Chinese economy – took place in Hanoi on June 1, witnessing the signing of seven business cooperation pacts.

At the signing ceremony business cooperation deals as part of the conference (Photo: VNA)

The event was co-organised by the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT)’s Shandong chapter. Its highlight was a networking event of more than 200 Vietnamese and Chinese firms operating in agriculture-food, machinery equipment, rubber tires-auto parts, and construction-building materials, among others.

Deputy head of Vietrade Hoang Minh Chien said in his remarks that despite negative COVID-19-related impacts, the Vietnam-China trade growth has been sustained. According to the General Department of Customs, the nations’ trade value hit 175.6 billion USD last year, up 5.5% from 2021; and China remained Vietnam's largest trading partner and import market.

Given such context, commercial cooperation between Vietnam and Shandong has recorded positive progress, Chien noted. In 2022, their bilateral trade neared 14 billion USD, an annual increase of 35.1%.

Given the role, position and size of the markets, ample room is available for Vietnamese localities and the Chinese province to exploit and develop economic and trade ties, he said, advising the sides to encourage their enterprises to join trade expositions on the other side for product introduction and networking.

Chien suggested that Shandong create favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to boost agricultural and aquatic exports to the Chinese market by official channels.

Vietrade is willing to work with the CCPIT Shandong to facilitate the formation of trade linkages and long-term partnerships between the sides.

Lin Yuan, deputy head of the CCPIT Shandong lauded the conference, saying it will help deepen the countries’ commercial and economic exchange in line with their governments’ common conceptions on trade-investment cooperation.

Li Zhen Min, Trade Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, affirmed the nations’ economic and trade cooperation has been actively developed, with many Chinese business delegations coming to Vietnam to learn about the market and invest in manufacturing plants. Their locality-to-locality collaboration has also been intensified, heLi said.

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