Vietnam, China border localities strengthen cooperation

• Deputy PM pushes for stronger Vietnam-Yunnan ties

The view was shared at the fourth conference of the working group of the Vietnamese provinces of Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Lai Chau and Dien Bien, and the Chinese province of Yunnan, in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, on June 3.

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan stressed that relations between Vietnamese localities and Yunnan province have developed strongly in various areas since the two countries established the strategic comprehensive cooperation partnership in 2008.

Deputy PM Nhan and Yunnan Governor Li Kiheng co-chaired the conference (Photo: VOV)

Their cooperation mechanism has proved productive over the years, contributing to strengthening cooperation amongst border localities, bringing practical benefits to their people, and building a common border of peace, friendship, cooperation and development, said Nhan.

He asked both sides to draw lessons from cooperation programs and propose solutions to remove barriers to their exchanges.

Cooperation agreements should be seriously and efficiently implemented on the basis of agreed points, stressed Nhan.

The Vietnamese leader suggested maintaining the flexible mechanism of reciprocal meetings and visits, opening and upgrading pairs of border gates to facilitate trade exchanges, while deploying several typical environmentally friendly and high-technological cooperation projects.  

He underlined the need to increase bilateral cooperation in economics, trade, tourism and investment to fully tap each other’s potential.

For his part, Yunnan Governor Li Jiheng reviewed major milestones in cooperation between the Chinese province and the four Vietnamese localities.

They included the building of the Red River bridge between Yunnan and Lao Cai and the upgrade of the Tian Bao -Thanh Thuy border gate into an international level.

Li noted that Vietnam has been Yunnan’s second biggest trade partner over the past five consecutive years, with two-way trade last year reaching US$12.1 billion, up 27.7 percent against 2010.

Yunnan encourages the two sides to trade farm produce, soon carry out signed agreements, and take part in each other’s exhibitions and trade fairs, Li told the conference.

The Chinese province wants to speed up road, rail and waterways transport projects linking Yunnan and Vietnamese border provinces, upgrade border gates, and open bank representatives in their localities.

It considers tourism a key pillar in its development strategy. Last year, the province received 175 million foreign arrivals, of which 250,000 came from Vietnam.

Vietnamese localities and Yunnan signed various cooperation documents (Photo:VGP)

Later Nhan and Li witnessed the signing of the minutes of the conference, a memorandum of understanding on contact mechanism between police forces of the five provinces, and a 2012-2015 cooperation zoning plan between Zhou Yunqi (Yunnan) and Ha Giang (Vietnam).

Nhan is scheduled to visit several economic, education and research centres in Yunnan on June 4.