Việt Nam, China augment cooperation along economic corridor

HẢI PHÒNG – A conference opened in Hải Phòng City yesterday with a view to promoting cooperation along the economic corridor of Việt Nam’s Lao Cai Province, Hà Nội, Hải Phòng and Quảng Ninh Province and China’s Yunnan Province.

The corridor’s 8th cooperation conference attracted more than 200 delegates, including representatives of the Consulate General of Việt Nam in Yunnan’s Kunming city, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, the Chinese Embassy in Việt Nam, authorities of the Vietnamese localities, and many businesses.

Chairman of the Hải Phòng municipal People’s Committee Nguyễn Văn Tùng said the conference is an initiative that aims to create prerequisites for diverse friendly exchanges and cooperation activities, especially in economics, between Vietnamese and Chinese localities.

He added the three-day event focuses on transport connection and cooperation in logistics development; trade and investment cooperation; tourism, education and health care cooperation; and cooperation in currency and insurance.

It is also hoped to witness the signing of cooperation documents on finance-currency, e-commerce and tourism between Vietnamese and Chinese companies. Notably, Hải Phòng and Yunnan expect to reach consensus on an air route linking the Vietnamese city with Kunming and an express train connecting Hải Phòng, Hà Nội, Lào Cai and Kunming.

Chairman Tùng said these are the most practical actions to realise the outcomes of the recent talks between General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Nguyễn Phú Trọng and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of China Xi Jinping. Enhanced transport connectivity is among the outcomes recorded since the economic corridor’s 7th cooperation conference in 2015.

The Hà Nội-Hải Phòng expressway and Tân Vũ-Lạch Huyện highway and sea-crossing bridge have been put into operation.

These two transport projects are also connected to the Hà Nội-Lào Cai expressway, forming an expressway route from the mountainous province of Lào Cai to Hải Phòng Port.

When the construction of the Hải Phòng-Hạ Long expressway is completed in 2018, it will create an expressway network from Kunming to Hạ Long, thus facilitating goods transport and tourism.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Transport is planning a rail route traversing Lào Cai, Hà Nội and Hải Phòng. It is also negotiating with China on connecting Lào Cai and Hekou North railway stations.

In terms of trade and investment cooperation, Lào Cai and Yunnan provinces have rotationally hosted the Việt Nam-China border trade fairs. Businesses from Vietnamese localities have also taken part in international fairs in China such as the Việt Nam-China border trade fair, the China-South Asia Expo, and the Kunming Import & Export Commodities Fair.

Universities and educational establishments of Lào Cai, Hải Phòng and Yunnan have maintained exchanges.

Meanwhile, the provinces and cities along the corridors have also coordinated in promoting tourism.

Eight of the 11 commercial banks of Lào Cai have inked agreements on cross-border trade payment with six commercial banks and credit cooperatives of Yunnan. Their cooperation has strongly supported businesses with import and export activities via Lào Cai International Border Gate, the conference heard. - Quang