Mr Trong made the comment while meeting with Wang Yang, Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee and Chairman of the Municipal People’s Council, as part of his official visit to China from April 8-15.

“The growth of good relations between Chongqing and Vietnamese localities will help foster the traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and China,” the chairman said.

He welcomed Chongqing businesses’ plans to expand investment in Vietnam and said Vietnam creates the best conditions for foreign investors, including those from China and Chongqing, to do business in the country.

Mr Wang affirmed the need to develop the private economic sector as outlined by the Communist Party of China. In addition, he said China encourages private businesses to invest abroad.

Currently, Chongqing businesses have poured US$50 million into 20 projects in Vietnam, of which the Lifan motorcycle group is the most successful one in the country.

“Chongqing businesses want to increase their investment in new projects and hope that the Vietnamese leaders will continue to create favourable conditions for them like other Chinese businesses to operate effectively in Vietnam,” said Mr Wang.

Later in the afternoon, Mr Trong visited the manufacturing workshops of the Lifan motorcycle group. Established in 1992, the group now has 120,000 workers, claiming to have fetched nearly 11 billion Yuan in revenue last year. It built a motorcycle manufacturing plant in Vietnam’s northern Hung Yen province in 2002 which is employing 2,000 local workers.