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The Vietnam News

Year :      [2003]      [2002]      [2001]      [2000]      [1999]      [1998]      [1997]

Vietnamese government to boost exports to China

The Ministry of Trade of Vietnam is proposing a range of measures to increase Vietnam's exports to China since domestic business are facing major difficulties in penetrating the high-potential market.

Bilateral trade between Vietnam and China rose from 2.8 billionUS dollars in 2001 to 3.2 billion US dollars in 2002. However, theexport of some mainstays, including fruit, vegetables, seafood andcashews, has dropped dramatically since the beginning of the year,Vietnam News Agency quoted trade officials as saying on Saturday.

To tackle the slump in exports, trade officials have proposed that the government establish trade offices is Kunming and Guangzhou, which between them account for the bulk of Vietnamese imports into China. Officials have also suggested an increase in the number of international fairs and exhibitions which would help domestic business promote their products in foreign markets and lead to better understanding of customers' demands.

Other measures would aim to encourage Vietnamese enterprises toregister their trade marks, ease payments for goods, and provide prompt information about market demand and prices, to help protectlocal traders. The governments of both Vietnam and China are organizing negotiations for new trade agreements and building a legal framework to protect cross-border trade.

Trade officials are also urging Vietnamese businesses to meet with their Chinese partners to promote value-added processing of food and farm produce, and the production of new varieties of consumer goods.

Seafood, fruit and vegetable exporters are now being urged to improve product quality to raise their competitiveness against similar products produced in Thailand and Myanmar. They are also being urged to concentrate on the Western provinces of China due to advantages such as geographical proximity, lower transport fees,and a huge largely-untapped market which includes 10 Chinese provinces and accounts for 25 percent of China's GDP.

Trade officials have said that Vietnam could import engineering products, electronics, motorbikes, and vegetables from Western China, and could export rubber, seafood, cashews and consumer goods in return.

The People's Daily - June 15, 2003


Chinese foreign minister meets vietnamese party, state leaders

In the complicated international situation, the smooth development of the Vietnam-China relationship has been of practical significance, said Vietnamese party and state leaders on Saturday.

While meeting with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, Nong Duc Manh, Vietnamese State President Tran Duc Luong, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, and Deputy Prime MinisterVu Khoan, said that the government and people of Vietnam will continue to further strengthen the friendly relationship and the multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries.

The Vietnamese leaders praised China for its achievements in the reform and opening up, and highly appreciated the active role of China in the international arena. They also hoped the two countries would further enhance the exchange of views and cooperation in regional and international issues.

During the meetings, Li said that under the leadership of the two parties, the long-term traditional friendship between China and Vietnam has made smoothly progress, and that the new leadership of China has always attached importance to the China-Vietnam friendly and cooperative relationship. The two states and the two peoples will always be good neighbors, good friends and good partners, he added.

Li also said that the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has set a strategic target of building a prosperoussociety and China, in the new period, will fulfill the target in order to safeguard world peace and to boost common development with the focus on peace and cooperation.

Li arrived here Friday for a three-day visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien.

The People's Daily - June 15, 2003


China, Vietnam to further promote cooperation

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Duy Nien held talks on Friday, agreeing to further promote the friendly cooperation between the two countries. During the talks, Li said that Vietnam has occupied an important position in the foreign policy of China, especially its policy toward neighboring countries.

The new leadership of China has as always attached importance to the China-Vietnam relationship, Li said. He added that China is willing to work with Vietnam to earnestly implement the principle of "long-term stability, future orientation, good neighborliness and multi-faceted cooperation" between the two countries, so as to bring their good-neighborly ties to a new height.

Meanwhile, Nien highly appreciated the smooth development of the Vietnam-China relationship. He stressed that the above-said principle is a guideline for the development of the Sino-Vietnamese relations. The Vietnam-China friendship will not only serve the interests of the two peoples but also benefit the peace of Asia and the world at large.

As for the economic and trade relationship between the two countries, the two ministers agreed to make greater efforts to fulfill the target of bringing the two-way trade volume to 5 billion US dollars by 2005. Li said that China has been pursuing a good-neighborly policy of achieving common prosperity with its neighboring countries, and that it attached importance to enhancing its economic and trade cooperation with Vietnam.

He affirmed that China will encourage major Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Vietnam. Nien praised the achievements that China has scored in the fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), saying that China has made great efforts not only to control SARS but also ensure a rapid growth of its economy.

Referring to the upcoming regional forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to be held in Cambodia in the next few days, Li said that positive developments have emerged as the main trend in the Asian region. The Asian countries have taken economic development as their top priority, and it is their common aspiration to create and maintain a harmonious environment for cooperation among them, Li added.

Li arrived in Hanoi earlier Friday for a three-day visit to Vietnam. He is scheduled to meet General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nong Duc Manh, State President Tran Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.

The People's Daily - June 14, 2003