Vietnam urges further promotion of border trade exchange with China

Vietnam's vice minister on Friday called for further promotion for boarder trade with China as the border area is considered as a gate of the country's northern key economic zone. Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade (MIT) Nguyen Cam Tu told a conference on boarder trade in 2006-2011 that the trading activities in the border areas with China have not been promoted in recent years. According to a report by head of MIT's mountainous trade department, Tran Bao Giam, the land borderline with China runs through seven Vietnamese provinces and two Chinese provinces. During the period from 2006 to 2011, the Vietnamese government and relevant agencies have issued appropriate policies and regulations in accordance with the border trade development, including providing favorable conditions for goods exports that contributed to promoting economic development in both countries, Giam said in the report. With the ASEAN-China free trade area, the project "two corridors, one economic belt," and the expansion of the " cooperation in the sub-Mekong region," the Vietnam-China border gates help boost trade exchange not only between the two countries, but also between Vietnam and other countries, said an MIT report. According to MIT, trade turnover during 2006-2010 in Vietnam's seven northern border provinces with China, namely Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Dien Bien and Lai Chau, annually increased 16.6 percent, with a total value of more than 23.85 billion U.S. dollars. Trade activities in the northern border areas should be further promoted and put under mid- and long-term strategies, with close control over programs to develop border trade with China, particularly expansion of the exports, said the deputy minister. MIT suggested building a mechanism for re-investment from the state budget aimed at developing technical infrastructure in the border areas and encouraging more investors to invest in building goods distribution and transit centers and working as contacts for trade exchange of goods, Tu added.