Hanoi (VNA) – An online conference took place on July9 to support Vietnamese businesses in exporting consumer goods to the Chinesemarket and seeking cooperation opportunities wiht their peers in Zhejiangprovince of China.

Co-organised by the Trade Promotion Department under theVietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the China Council for thePromotion of International Trade – Hangzhou branch, the event drew theparticipation of nearly 50 Vietnamese and Zhejiang enterprises.
 
Speaking at theconference, Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Trade Promotion Department, said that inrecent years, China has been continously the largest export market of Vietnam amongmore than 200 countries and territories having import and export activitieswith the Southeast Asian country.

Accordingto the statistics of Vietnam Customs, in the past two years, two-way tradeturnover between Vietnam and China reached over 100 billion USD per year.

Inthe first five months of this year alone, in the context of the complicateddevelopments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries promptly took manymeasures to maintain trade as well as implemented initiatives to promotebusiness exchanges via online platforms, bringing bilateral trade to more than 44.35billion USD, up nearly 2 percent over the same period in 2019.

According to Phu, Vietnam has close and direct trade relations with manyprovinces and cities of China, with Zhejiang, with a population of 57 million, beingits very important trading partner.

In order to supportVietnamese and Chinese enterprises to promote bilateral trade, Phu said hisagency has opened a trade promotion office in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiangprovince.

This is Vietnam's second trade promotion office in China, established in 2018after the first one in Chongqing, helping Zhejiang firms seek long-termbusiness and investment collaboration opportunities with Vietnamesecounterparts.

Sharing the view with Phu, Zheng Rongxin, head of theChinese council’s Hangzhou branch, expressed his wish that the two sides willenhance their friendship and cooperation to maintain a mutually beneficiarytrade environment.

After the conference, businesses of both sides engaged in anonline trading session during which Vietnamese companies introduced Zhejiangimporters to Vietnam’s high quality products such as fresh and dried fruits,aquatic products, beverages and natural rubber gloves.

The online trading session will last until July 10./.