Opportunities and shortcomings in economic, trade, investment and tourism ties between Vietnam and China were the main topics at a seminar in Beijing on August 20, aiming to help raise bilateral trade value to 100 billion USD. The event, jointly held by the Vietnamese Embassy in China and the ASEAN-China Centre, drew nearly 100 representatives from ministries and localities, scholars and entrepreneurs of the two countries. Addressing the seminar, Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Van Tho said the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership has enjoyed dynamic developments with cooperation in economics, trade and investment playing an important role. Given the fast-changing regional and global economic and financial markets, the diplomat suggested the two countries join hands to maintain economic stability in each country as well as the Asia-Pacific region. The two countries should further tap their cooperation potential and facilitate import-export activities in a bid to balance the bilateral trade, he said. Statistics released by the Chinese customs show that two-way trade turnover reached 41.8 billion USD in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 16.6 percent. Of the amount, China’s export turnover to Vietnam stood at about 31 billion USD, up 14.8 percent, while its imports from Vietnam were worth 10.8 billion USD, up 22.1 percent. China has been Vietnam’s largest trade partner for 11 consecutive years. Vietnam also ranks second among ASEAN countries in term of bilateral trade growth rate. Progresses have been also made in investment and tourism cooperation between Vietnam and China, the seminar heard. The Chinese side, however, said the imbalance in bilateral trade remains a headache for both countries. At the same time, growth in investment ties was mainly driven by Chinese investment, most for political reasons, they said, adding the great potential for tourism cooperation is yet to be fully tapped due to lax coordination between the two countries’ tourism agencies. The participants put forth a host of solutions to push the trade ties, including negotiations to boost China’s import of Vietnamese agricultural and industrial products and increase China’s direct investment in goods production in Vietnam for export to China.-VNA