Viet Nam Prime Minister’s trip to promote international trade of Vietnamese agricultural products

On November 4 and 5, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc engaged in an array of activities to China to promote international trade of Vietnamese agricultural product, including participating in the CIIE 2018 Opening Ceremony and the Hongqiao International Economic and Trade Forum, visiting pavilions of countries and Vietnamese enterprises. He also had meeting with Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping and Mayor of Shanghai Ying Yong, held dialogues with many leading enterprises in China, and attended the opening ceremony of a Vietnamese Trade Promotion Office in Hangzhou city, the second trade promotion office of Viet Nam in China.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of CIIE 2018, in which Viet Nam was selected as a guest of honour for the first CIIE among more than 130 countries and territories, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc spoke highly of the exhibition, which showed the wish for win-win cooperation and promotion of economic and trade partnerships to bring out mutual benefits to boost up regional and global economic growth.

After the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited the Vietnamese pavilion with the participation of 25 enterprises showcasing the prestige and quality of Viet Nam's agricultural products, processed food and information technology services. Within the framework of the exhibition, Vietnamese enterprises held many meetings and exchanges with partners of China and other countries to seek opportunities for cooperation and investment in the future.

On the occasion of the CIIE 2018, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping. The Prime Minister affirmed that, Viet Nam always attaches importance to developing the friendly, stable, healthy and sustainable relationship with China, considering this one of the top priorities in the country’s foreign policy.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called for joint efforts to maintain high-level visits and meeting to enhance mutual political trust. He indicated his belief that the CIIE 2018 will open new channels of cooperation and distribution, promote official trade and branding development to foster consumption of Vietnamese products and goods in China, not only in southern border provinces, but also in north-eastern provinces. He urged China to open its doors and create favorable conditions for Vietnamese goods to enter China; adopt practical policies and measures to reduce Viet Nam’s current big trade deficit, towards promoting stable and sustainable growth of bilateral trade. Viet Nam always welcomes Chinese high-tech enterprises to invest in the country.

For his part, Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping emphasized that the Chinese Party and State attach importance to relationship with Viet Nam and agreed to maintain high-level contacts with Viet Nam to promote political understanding and foster all-round cooperation in a practical manner to maintain peace and stability at sea, creating a favorable environment for the two countries' relations. Party General Secretary Xi Jinping said China would not pursue trade surpluses with Viet Nam and would increase its imports from Viet Nam so that the two countries' trade would develop in a balanced and sustainable manner. Over time, China has taken many measures to expand imports from Viet Nam and has gradually reduced Viet Nam’s trade deficit. In recent years, Viet Nam's exports to China has increased to 36.8% and in the coming time, China will continue to promote this trend.

On the sidelines of the CIIE 2018, the Prime Minister met with Hong Kong Chief Carie Lam to promote bilateral economic cooperation. In Shanghai, China's largest economic development center, the Prime Minister and the Viet Nam Delegation met and spoke directly with many senior leaders of large corporations and "elites" of the economy to promote cooperation in the areas of agriculture, finance, insurance, banking, construction, transportation, energy and distribution. The Prime Minister emphasized his desire for Chinese enterprises to further expand their official imports of Vietnamese high-quality agricultural and seafood products into the Chinese market, aiming at balancing the bilateral trade between the two countries and hope business partners will work together for win-win cooperation. The Prime Minister assigned the leaders of the ministries and sectors to receive suggestions from enterprises and work on specific issues, adopt investment and business ideas, especially in production and processing of high-quality agricultural products. On this occasion, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong held talks with Chinese enterprises specializing in agricultural, seafood and fruit production. Both sides proceeded with necessary steps for the importation of 20,000 tons of shrimp. Viet Nam also signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Shanghai Grandfruit Import & Export allowing the group to import 120,000 tons of vegetables and fruits each year from 2018 to 2020.