Partnership intensification matches VN-China’s basic interests: President

President Tran Dai Quang made the remark during an interview granted to Chinese press outlets on May 10 ahead of his State visit to China where he will attend a high-level forum on the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Vietnamese and Chinese Parties and States have enjoyed a sound cooperation foundation and basic similarities, including the time-honoured traditional friendship and neighbourliness built and nurtured during the national struggles for liberation, the persistent path to socialism, the current reform and opening, and mutual interests in maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for national development, he said.

He described their cooperation potential as very huge, adding that China is the world’s second biggest economy and has gained much development experience, especially in terms of economy. Meanwhile, Vietnam has maintained its economic growth trend and is assessed as successful in foreign investment attraction compared to other developing countries.

Both sides need to continue working out measures to expand and improve the quality and efficiency of cooperation in all spheres, he said.

President Quang noted during his visit, he will discuss with Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping, and other senior leaders of the Chinese Party and State, key measures to foster mutual trust, promote the settlement of issues of shared concern, consolidate the countries’ long-standing amity, intensify the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and contribute to regional and global peace, stability, cooperation and development.

Regarding the high-level forum on the Belt and Road Initiative, he said this is an occasion for leaders of countries and international organisations to talk ways to boost cooperation and international integration for peace, stability, security, prosperity and sustainable development.

Vietnam supports initiatives and efforts which aim to increase economic and regional connectivity for the sake of shared interests. The Vietnamese leader expressed his hope that the forum will open up opportunities for cooperation and economic connectivity among countries and in the region.

He expected this connectivity will facilitate trade, investment, business-to-business links, and people-to-people exchange while helping to successfully implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It will also help Vietnam and China bolster cooperation in environmental protection, climate change response, and management and sustainable use of natural resources.

He emphasised that Vietnamese-Chinese relations are on an upward trend with encouraging outcomes in various aspects. China remains the biggest trade partner of Vietnam, which in turn is the largest ASEAN trade partner of China.

By the end of March 2017, China had more than 1,600 projects worth over 11 billion USD in Vietnam, ranking eighth among 116 countries and territories investing in the ASEAN nation. That Chinese businesses pay attention to accelerating project implementation and ensuring project quality as committed will bring about higher economic benefits for both sides and raise Chinese investors’ prestige in Vietnam, he noted.

Vietnam welcomes Chinese firms’ increase of investment and technology transfer through major projects that match China’s strength and Vietnam’s demand such as in infrastructure development, manufacturing industry, high-quality human resources development, and clean energy, he said.

With the close proximity, Vietnam pledges to provide the best possible conditions for Chinese enterprises to trade with other markets in ASEAN and around the globe, President Quang added.