Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the affirmation while receiving Party Committee Secretary of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liu Qibao in Hanoi on May 10.

“Vietnam and Guangxi province should work together to develop roads and a railway line linking the two countries,” said Mr Dung, adding that he will assign Vietnamese ministries and agencies to work with Guangxi on the issue.

He praised Mr Liu’s proposal to expand cooperation with the model One Exis, Two Wings, including the Vietnam-Singapore economic corridor axis and cooperation between the Mekong region and the Bac Bo (Tonkin) Gulf. He said Vietnam will also adopt measures to shape up the Dong Dang-Peng Xiang economic zone and organise the 4^th China-ASEAN Trade Fair. 

Vietnam will work closely with China to accelerate border demarcation progress in order to complete the task in 2008 and build a common borderline of peace, cooperation and prosperity between the two countries, said Mr Dung.

For his part, Mr Liu praised Vietnam’s efforts in organising the APEC meetings last year and becoming a WTO member. He said the Guangxi delegation, comprising 800 representatives from the business circles and art troupes, is expected to sign 50 investment projects worth US$520 million during its visit from May 9-15.

Earlier, Mr Liu was received by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem and Deputy Foreign Minister Le Cong Phung. Both sides applauded the exchange between Guangxi and the Vietnamese provinces of Lang Son, Cao Bang and Quang Ninh in preparation for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of a joint working committee. They affirmed their efforts to complete border demarcation next year and fully implement the Agreement on Delimitation and Fishing Cooperation in the Tonkin Gulf.

Vietnamese and Chinese businesses discussed the development of the Two Corridors, One Economic Belt agreement at a workshop held in Hanoi on the same day. To further develop bilateral economic model, Secretary of the Chongzou Municipal Committee Luo Dianlong proposed strengthening bilateral cooperation in such areas as transport, energy, agriculture, commodity circulation, tourism and cultural education.

Nguyen Ba An, deputy director of the Development Strategy Institute under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said cooperation should be implemented in small steps. Cooperation should be implemented in trading and investment, industrial and agricultural production, tourism, construction and resource exploitation and then expanded to other areas, with joint projects implemented through Government business and individual channels.