Senior leaders of Vietnam and China give top priority to developing bilateral ties

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and President To Lam made the statement while receiving Liu Ning, member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Committee of China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in Hanoi on August 28.

Welcoming the Guangxi delegation, the top Vietnamese leader greatly valued their working visit to Vietnam, which he said will help enhance border localities’ leading role in realising the latest common perceptions reached between the two Parties and countries’ leaders about further reinforcing the Vietnam - China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and promoting the building of a community of shared future.

He affirmed his respect for the long-standing friendship between the two Parties and countries and noted that Guangxi witnessed many cooperation activities of the two countries’ revolutions. He thaned the Party organisation, administration, and people of Guangxi for preserving the relic sites connected with President Ho Chi Minh and the revolution of Vietnam.

Lam also touched upon his successful state visit to China as well as the important common perceptions reached between him and General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President Xi Jinping, as well as other key leaders of China.

The top leaders of the two Parties always give great attention to boosting friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries’ border localities, including between Guangxi and northeastern border provinces of Vietnam, he added. General Secretary and President Lam highly valued Guangxi taking the lead in economic and trade ties with Vietnam for many years.

He asked this province and border localities of Vietnam to continue maintaining and bringing into play exchange mechanisms; step up result-oriented collaboration in economy, trade, investment, and digital transformation; and together properly manage and build a Vietnam - China border of peace, stability, friendship, cooperation, and development, thereby helping further intensify relations between the two Parties and countries.

For his part, Liu held that the common perceptions shared by the top leaders of the two Parties and countries provide an important prerequisite for promoting bilateral relations to a new height, including the friendship and cooperation between Guangxi and all-level authorities, sectors, and localities of Vietnam.

He said Guangxi will actively grasp the common perceptions, the Vietnam - China joint statement, and the 14 cooperation documents signed during his host’s recent visit to China so as to further foster the countries’ comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and contribute to the building of a community of shared future.

It is ready to keep working hand in hand with border localities of Vietnam to intensify friendship exchanges; beef up result-oriented and mutually beneficial cooperation, particularly in economy, trade, investment, tourism, education - training, and people-to-people links; together manage the shared borderline; and properly carry out the three legal documents on land border management between the two countries, thus maintaining a border of peace, stability, friendship, cooperation, and development, the Chinese official said.

The same day, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also hosted a reception for the Chinese official, during which he asked the Chinese side to augment cooperation with Vietnam to enhance the connectivity of transport infrastructure and soft infrastructure at border gates.

The Government chief affirmed that the two Parties and countries place great importance on to locality-to-locality cooperation, and they support their localities, especially border ones, to increase friendship exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Liu, who is also Chairman of the Standing Committee of the regional People’s Congress, noted the Party organisation, administration, and people of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are determined to properly carry out the joint statement and common perceptions recently reached between the top leaders of the two Parties and countries while continuing to strongly solidify the friendship and win-win cooperation with Vietnamese localities, thus practically contributing to general ties between the two Parties and countries.

At the meeting,  host and guest hailed the important strides in bilateral relations, including the extensive and effective cooperation between Vietnam and Guangxi, as seen in all-level mutual visits, the partnerships in economy, trade and investment, transport infrastructure connectivity, land border management, the opening and upgrade of border gates, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges.

Showing his hope for bilateral cooperation to better match their potential and relationship, the cabinet leader asked the two sides to keep fruitfully implementing the high-level common perceptions; step up exchanges and meetings between their all-level authorities, sectors, and people’s organisations to help each other develop; and protect and uphold the values of the two countries’ revolutionary relic sites, especially the ones linked with President Ho Chi Minh in Guangxi, to deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

He called for joint efforts to make new breakthroughs in cooperation fields.

The two sides should reinforce “hard connectivity” in terms of expressways and high-speed railway, particularly the Lang Son - Hanoi and Mong Cai - Ha Long - Hai Phong routes linking with Guangxi, while boosting the upgrade of “soft connectivity” in terms of smart customs and smart border gates, Chinh continued.

He suggested Guangxi continue offering favourable conditions for Vietnamese goods to enter this region to go more deeply into the Chinese market and to a third country, and encourage its capable businesses to increase investment in Vietnam, especially in the fields of green agriculture, clean energy, and sustainable development.

Both sides also need to actively study a cross-border economic cooperation zone model, work together to properly manage the land border, and coordinate to hold celebrations of 25 years since the signing of the land border treaty and 15 years since the signing of the three legal documents on land border between the two nations.

At the meeting, Liu highlighted the determination to push up bilateral ties, expand and strengthen friendship exchanges with Vietnamese localities, boost connectivity in terms of road, railway and sea transport on par with the scale of the two countries’ economic and trade links, and tap into the two sides’ special advantages so that via Guangxi, Vietnam can further connect with Chinese localities and third countries, and via Vietnam, Guangxi can connect with other ASEAN member states.

He proposed the two sides further scale up and improve the quality of trade and investment partnerships, improve the customs clearance efficiency by applying the “smart border gate” model, and carry out cooperation in seaport, electricity trading, digital economy, and digital connection.

Liu suggested stronger collaboration in border management, crime fight, cross-border disease transmission prevention, tourism, people-to-people exchange, and education - training, thereby contributing to the China - Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to benefit both sides’ localities and people.

On the occasion, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son held talks with the visiting Secretary of the CPC Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.