Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and China’s Ministry of
Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on farm produce
trading to facilitate bilateral cooperation on April 22 in Hanoi.
The
signing ceremony took place within the framework of the eighth session
of the Vietnam-China Joint Economic and Trade Cooperation Committee that
opened on the same day.
At the meeting, the
two sides reviewed their economic and trade cooperation results since
the seventh meeting and exchanged views on cooperation in trade and
industry as well as other sectors to promote future trade and economic
ties between the two countries.
Deputy Minister of Industry
and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu said since the last meeting, Vietnam-China
trade ties have witnessed remarkable developments with two-way trade
turnover exceeding 41 billion USD in 2012.
China
continues to be Vietnam’s largest trade partner while Vietnam was
one of China ’s most important trade partners in ASEAN, he said.
The
two sides reached common consensus on issues of mutual concern, and
discussed measures to raise two-way trade to 60 billion USD by 2015,
reducing imports from China and strengthening cross border trade,
according to Tu.
They also discussed how to
accelerate and ensure the quality of projects involving Chinese
contractors as well as Chinese preferential loans for Vietnamese
infrastructure projects, he added.
The two sides
affirmed to further strengthen cooperation between relevant ministries
and agencies to remove obstacles, increasing the effectiveness of the
two countries’ strategic comprehensive partnership.-VNA