Shanghai (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on November 4 hosted a talkwith representatives of a number of leading Chinese groups operating in thefields of agriculture, finance, banking, construction, transport, energy anddistribution.

Theevent is part of the leader’s trip to China to attendthe first International Import Expo of China (CIIE 2018) on November 4-5. 

Speakingat the talk, PM Phuc said the Vietnam-China fruitful relationship has created afoundation for their economic and trade ties.

Hecited China’s statistics revealing that two-way trade exceeded 120 billion USDin 2017, even higher than the accumulated trade turnover between China and manyEuropean countries.

Vietnamhas also maintained its position as China’s largest partner in the Associationof Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), he noted.

ThePM used the occasion to brief the Chinese businesses on Vietnam’s political andsocio-economic situation over the past years, saying each year Vietnam needs 25billion USD for infrastructure building and 138 billion USD for electricitydevelopment.

Thecapital will be mobilised from different resources, including the privatesector, he added.

Layingstress on the agricultural sector with 20 exports earning more than 1 billionUSD each, PM Phuc said that Vietnam is the 15th largest agriculturalexporter in the world and the second in ASEAN.

Besides rice, pepper, coffee, cashew, basa fish and shrimp which have beenpopular around the world, Vietnam has dragon fruit, mango, longan, lychee,pomelo and watermelon cultivated in line with the clean, smart agriculturepractices, and qualified to enter choosy markets like the US, the EU, Japan,the Republic of Korea and Australia, he added.

PM Phuc said that although China is the largest buyer of Vietnamese farmproduce, most of the products are consumed in the country’s southern localitiesand they have not entered deeply in this market yet.

ThePM hoped businesses will contribute opinions and recommendations for Vietnam’sdevelopment, thus promoting the potential and strength of each country.

He called on Chinese enterprises to import Vietnam’s agricultural products,towards balancing trade between the two countries.

While appreciating the Vietnamese market’s potential, Chinese enterprisesshowed their desire to continue investing and expanding their investment inVietnam.

Theyhailed efforts made by the Vietnamese Government in improving its investmentenvironment, saying that they are willing to help Vietnamese goods gain greaterpresence in the Chinese market.

Chinese firms informed that they will enhance investment in many fields in Vietnamsuch as clean agriculture and food production, adding that apart from transferringtechnology, the two sides can consider cooperation in infrastructuredevelopment in Vietnam as the Southeast Asian nation has huge potential for collaborationin building industrial parks and seaports through the forms of Build – Operate – Transfer (BOT) and Engineering Procurement and Construction(EPC).-VNA