Beijing (VNA) – 💟A workshop was held in the Chinese central province of Hunan on October 19 to promote cooperation between Vietnam and China in economics, trade, investment, and tourism.

The event was organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in China and Hunan provincial Department of Commerce as part of the ongoing 2016 ASEAN-Hunan Famous Brand High-Quality Products Trade Fair. Minister Counsellor at the Vietnamese Embassy in China Nguyen Dac Thanh said the workshop enables businesses to study cooperation opportunities and potentials in the context of the recent establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community and the growing friendship and cooperative ties between the two countries. He noted that with the goal of raising bilateral trade to 100 billion USD in 2017, the two sides have continuously undertaken measures to expand partnership in economics, trade, and investment in a healthy, stable and balanced manner while encouraging businesses to expand partnership. According to the diplomat, the Vietnamese government is committed to creating the best possible conditions for foreign enterprises, including those from China, to do business in Vietnam. Vietnam also welcomes Hunan businesses to invest in projects suitable with the country’s sustainable development strategy, especially in construction materials, supporting industry, equipment and machinery, electricity, renewable energy, and green growth, he said. Vietnam-China trade surpassed 66 billion USD in 2015 (China’s statistics 95.8 billion USD). China has been the biggest trade partner of Vietnam for the past 12 consecutive years, while Vietnam became the largest trade partner of China in ASEAN in 2015 for the first time. As of July 2016, Chinese firms injected nearly 11 billion USD into 1,500 investment projects in Vietnam, ranking ninth out of the 110 countries and territories investing in the Southeast Asian nation. China is the leading country in terms of number of tourists to Vietnam, and it is also one of the most popular destinations for Vietnamese travellers. Close to 2 million Chinese vacationers arrived in Vietnam in the first nine months of 2016, a year-on-year increase of over 55 percent and equal to the total figure of 2015.-VNA