Hanoi (VNA) –  Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and the Secretary of the Party Committee of China’s Hainan province, Shen Xiaoming, reached consensus on measures to strengthen trade ties at a meeting in Hanoi on February 22.

The host official expressed his belief that as the world’s largest free-trade port, Hainan will play an increasingly important role in trade between Vietnam and China, helping increase Vietnam’s exports and reduce the trade imbalance. He suggested establishing a trade promotion office of Vietnam in Hainan’s Haikou city and accelerating the opening of the Chinese market to Vietnam’s agricultural products. There is opportunity with fresh coconut which is in high demand in the province, and room to cooperate in agricultural processing. Minister Dien asked Hainan to provide assistance and preferential treatment to Vietnamese enterprises to capitalize on e-commerce incentives and take part in major international expos in Hainan. The minister suggested the Chinese province provide support and incentive mechanisms for Vietnamese businesses to take advantage of e-commerce as well as support Vietnamese businesses to participate in international exhibitions in Hainan, such as the International Consumer Product Expo. Minister Dien proposed the two sides increase information sharing on Hainan's trade and investment incentives, trade promotion cooperation. He also pointed out the need to study and upgrade the Agreement on strengthening economic and trade cooperation between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Hainan Provincial Government signed in 2008 to meet the current context.   For his part, Shen voiced his support for Minister Dien’s proposals and affirmed that he will order relevant agencies and localities of Hainan to coordinate with the Vietnamese side to step up the establishment of a trade promotion office in Vietnam. He spoke on expanding the import of high-quality agricultural products from Vietnam and promoting the opening of the market for Vietnamese agricultural products and fruits. Shen said that Hainan is the largest importer of coconut, also the locality where 70% of businesses operating in the coconut processing field of China are concentrated. Shen pledged to assign his province’s agencies to work with the Chinese General Administration of Customs to promote the market opening to fresh coconut from Vietnam. Regarding the upgrade of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Hainan administration, the Secretary showed his support for negotiations to sign the MoU to help facilitate Vietnam’s trade ties with Hainan and China as a whole. Exchanging on opportunities for cooperation and trade promotion between Vietnam and Hainan (China). (Photo: VietnamPlus) In 2022, trade revenue between Vietnam and Hainan reached 1.35 billion USD, up 56% year on year. That was comprised of 695.2 million USD in Hainan’s exports and 658 million USD in Vietnam’s exports, respectively rising 171.9% and 7.5%, according to data from the Chinese province./.