Vietnam, China to outline economic-trade cooperation orientations in Beijing meeting

Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao are scheduled to co-chair the meeting.

The comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China has been continuously enhanced in recent times, with trade and economic cooperation serving as a major pillar.

China has been Vietnam’s largest trade partner for several consecutive years, while Vietnam is China’s largest trade partner in ASEAN and the sixth largest worldwide.

In the first seven months of 2024, Vietnam’s imports from China were estimated at US$79.2 billion, while its exports to China reached US$33.4 billion, an increase of 7.5% compared to the same period last year.

Vietnam and China share a common border with many open border gates facilitating bilateral trade.

Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs indicate that cross border trade between Vietnamese localities and China’s Guangxi province alone hit US$41.4 billion in 2023, accounting for 24.1% of the total trade volume between the two countries and 97.2% of the total trade volume through the land border gates between Vietnam and China.

Vietnam has been Guangxi’s largest trade partner for 24 consecutive years, with trade through their land border gates making up over 95% of the total import-export volume through the land border gates of both countries.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has signed the most cooperation mechanisms with various provinces and localities in China, along with bilateral, regional, and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) involving both countries.

Among those mechanisms, it signed memoranda of cooperation on economic and trade cooperation with Sichuan Province in 2009, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 2019, Yunnan Province in 2022, and Hainan and Shandong Provinces in 2024.

The signing and implementation of these memoranda aim to enhance Vietnam's trade relations with promising localities in China, promoting stable and sustainable economic cooperation between the two countries.

In the context of rapidly changing and complex regional and global developments, maintaining a stable, healthy, and increasingly in-depth relationship between Vietnam and China is an objective necessity that holds significant importance for the long-term development of bilateral partnership, as well as for peace, stability, and development in the region.