Vietnam, China foster economic corridor
LAO CAI - Officials and scholars from Vietnam and China are seeking ways to facilitate an economic corridor linking four localities of the two countries.
The corridor stretching from southwest China's Kunming city of Yunnan province to three Vietnamese localities has three firm bases for sustainable development, namely fair similarity in geography and natural conditions, close connection to the China-ASEAN free trade area, and strong political bonds between the two nations, Vietnamese Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen stated Thursday at the international seminar entitled "Cooperation on developing the economic corridor of Kunming-Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong."
To step up the corridor's development, Vietnam and China in general, the involved localities in particular should "upgrade infrastructure, especially roads and railways, expand cooperation on production and supply of such services as tourism and transport,and renew management mechanisms", the minister said.
The two sides must focus on the adoption of "single-window" customs (electronic processing of trade documents, the harmonization of product standards and technical regulations, and mutual recognition of test reports and certification to facilitate flows of goods and passengers, saving time and cost for enterprises and residents), he said, adding that an agreement on mutual recognition should be signed.
Tang Lilu, assistant of the governor of Yunnan Province and head of the Yunnan delegation to the one-day seminar, proposed that the Vietnamese government should open the expressway linking its northern Hai Phong city with Kunming to traffic in the next few years, speed up the construction of a seaport in its northern Quang Ninh province and the trans-Asia rail route, ensure a stable attractive investment environment in the corridor, and further cooperate with the Chinese side on building bank-based transaction systems and disease quarantine at border areas.
"The Vietnamese government should set up a group of experts to compile necessary cooperation mechanisms. Besides, we want the early realization of the Lao Cai-Honghe (Yunnan's prefecture) economic cooperation area," he noted.
Other officials and scholars also put forth and discussed measures to put socioeconomic potentials of the localities in the corridor into play, which will help boost economic and trade ties between Vietnam and China, as well as between the two countries with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Zhou Zhen Ming, vice director of Yunnan's Institute for Southeast Asia Studies proposed both Vietnam and Yunnan further coordination with the Asian Development Bank and other members of the Greater Mekong Sub-region, and take into consideration the development of another economic corridor involving Nanning (city of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region) and Vietnam's three localities of Lang Son, Hanoi and Hai Phong.
Nguyen Ngoc Kim, vice chairman of the People's Committee of northern Lao Cai province, said the province, in the short term, centers on realizing the Lao Cai-Honghe economic cooperation area to help the two sides tap their great advantages: a trade entranceto Vietnam, China and ASEAN.
Vietnam's import and export turnovers with China via the Lao Cai international border gate in Lao Cai are estimated at 400 million US dollars this year, up more than 33.3 percent against last year.
Economic and trade relations between the two countries have gained encouraging results in recent years with China having become Vietnam's biggest trading partner, and Chinese statistics show the two-way trade reached 6.74 billion dollars in 2004, an all time high.
In May 2004, the governments of Vietnam and China agreed to develop the two economic corridors and the Beibu Gulf economic belt involving China's Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Hong Kong and Macao, and 10 coastal localities of Vietnam, to speed up socioeconomic development of the involved cities and provinces, aswell as their trade and economic ties with ASEAN.
The China-ASEAN free trade was formally launched in July. Since then both sides have gradually cut down tariffs on more than 7,000 goods items, so that all the duties will be removed by 2015 as targeted.
Xinhuanet - November 4, 2005.
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