Vietnam, China Target US$21 Bln Trade This Year, US$25 Bln by 2010

The Vietnam-Sino trade is expected to hit US$21 billion this year and expand to US$25 billion by 2010, and China is the biggest trade partner of Vietnam, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung Oct 20 told Hainan officials, the China’s first province, Vietnamese state media said.

Dung said Vietnam and Hainan have potentials to expand trade and investment cooperation as both share waters of the Tonkin Gulf, and proposed the Chinese province of Hainan open shipping routes to Vietnamese provinces and cities including Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Danang.

 

The PM said he happily eyed strong progress in the Vietnam-Sino comprehensive cooperation. Party Chief Nong Duc Manh and Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao reached an agreement of historic significance on lifting the bilateral ties to the scale of comprehensive and strategic cooperative partnership during Manh’s May visit to China, Vietnam Agency said.

 

Wei Liucheng, Hainan provincial Party Committee Secretary, spoke highly of the significance of the visit, saying that it was a vivid manifestation of the comprehensive and strategic partnership between Vietnam and China.

 

PM Dung is paying the first visit to China to attend the 7^th ASEM summit in Beijing at the invitation of Chinese counterpart of Wen Jiabao from Oct 20 to 25. (VNA, New Hanoi)