Hanoi (VNA) - 🎃Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc on November 27 attended the opening ceremony of the 17thChina-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit(CABIS) in Nanning city of China via a video conference.

In his video message to the event, the Government leader said as the globaleconomy is being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, ASEAN-China cooperationcontinues to see encouraging progress, especially in economic and tradeinteraction, and mutual support in the pandemic response. For more than 10consecutive years, China has been ASEAN’s largest trade partner. Notably, ASEANbecame China’s largest trade partner for the first time in the first six monthsof 2020 as the trade turnover amounted to 300 billion USD, in which the Vietnam-Chinafigure accounted for 20 percent. He went on to say that this year, during Vietnam’s Chairmanship and under thetheme of “”Cohesive and Responsive”, ASEAN has redoubled its efforts tostrengthen solidarity and unity, kept the pace of cooperation, respondedeffectively to the pandemic, enjoyed fruitful engagement with its partners, andreinforced its centrality in the regional security issues. Most importantly, at the 37th ASEAN Summit and related Summitsheld in mid-November, the ten ASEAN member states and five partners, includingChina, signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), creatinga vast market of 2.2 billion people and 26.2 trillion USD in combined GDP, hesaid. He shared that Vietnam is striving to fulfil the dual goal of curbing thepandemic and fostering economic rebound. At CAEXPO, it has been the countrywith the largest number of participating businesses and exhibition stalls amongASEAN member states. This time, Vietnam’s virtual stalls stay open until theend of 2020, thus offering huge trade opportunities for firms. Regarding Vietnam-China ties, the PM said 2020 is also an important milestonein the bilateral relations. Vietnamese General Secretary and State PresidentNguyen Phu Trong and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have held two telephonediscussions where they agreed on future directions for deepening the twonations’ good neighborliness and Comprehensive Strategic CooperativePartnership. “Vietnam is joining fellow ASEAN members to realize the ASEAN Community Vision2025,  expand mutually beneficial cooperation with our neighbour China, onthe basis of the UN Charter and international law, for peace, stability, andprosperity in the region and the world,” he noted. Speaking at the opening ceremony in Nanning city, Chinese PartyGeneral Secretary and President Xi Jinping said China considers ASEAN apriority of its neighbourhood diplomacy and is ready to work with the bloc topromote multifaceted cooperation and maintain prosperous and positivedevelopment in the region. Thisyear, nearly 80 Vietnamese firms’ branches in China display products such asagro-forestry-fishery products, processed food, wooden furniture andhandicrafts, consumer goods, investment and tourism products, and services. Inaddition, over 100 Vietnamese enterprises participate in the fair online, showcasingagro-forestry-fishery products and processed food, consumer goods, woodworksand handicrafts. On this occasion, the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade will also cooperate with the CAEXPO Organising Committee to organisean online Vietnam-China trade exchange conference on food and beverages./.