In recent years, China and Vietnam have signed a number of trade and economic cooperation agreements, expanding trade in agricultural products, and connectivity for regional development ...... China and Vietnam are tightening the ties of economic and trade cooperation between the two sides, and cooperation and exchanges are getting closer, with economic and trade exchanges between the two countries showing vigorous vitality.

Expanding trade in agricultural products

Vietnam's frozen durians are waiting to be officially exported to China. In the first half of this year, durian continued to be the strongest commodity exported from Vietnam to China, of which more than 90 percent was fresh durian. The investment in frozen durian production factories is much higher than in fresh packaged durian warehouses, so the number of companies involved will be smaller and the competition relatively less intense than for fresh durians. Currently, the Chinese market is developing a variety of products made from durian, which requires a large amount of raw materials, while frozen durian has a shelf life of up to 2 years, so the frozen durian market is more stable than fresh durian.

Another fruit ready to enter the Chinese market is coconut. From the Vietnamese media, China and Vietnam agreed to complete the process of signing a protocol on phytosanitary requirements for Vietnamese fresh coconuts to be exported to China. Currently, Vietnamese coconuts are exported to 90 countries and territories, and the export value of Vietnam's peeled fresh coconuts and processed products in 2023 amounted to US$243 million. Dang Phuoc Nguyen, Secretary General of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said that the agreement on Vietnam's official quota exports to China will bring great opportunities for Vietnam's coconut industry. Due to its geographical proximity, short transportation time and low cost, Vietnamese coconuts are competitive in the Chinese market.

More and more Vietnamese fruit and vegetable products are exported to China, and the economic exchanges between China and Vietnam have continued to go deeper and deeper. Statistics show that in the first half of the year, bilateral trade between China and Vietnam recovered strongly, reaching nearly $95 billion; Vietnam's imports from China reached $67 billion, surging 35 percent year-on-year; Vietnam's exports to China grew steadily to $27.8 billion, up 5.3 percent year-on-year.

From fruits to processed foods, Vietnamese agricultural products are gaining a foothold in the Chinese market. In the future, China-Vietnam agricultural cooperation will take a new step forward by strengthening cooperation across the whole industrial chain in the fields of agricultural trade, investment and agricultural technology cooperation.

Enhancing the vitality of regional cooperation

China and Vietnam have signed bilateral and multilateral agreements, including the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). With multilateral trade agreements such as ACFTA and RCEP, trade between the two countries is expected to continue to grow in the coming years, especially in the areas of agricultural products, textiles and electronics.

The agreements signed by China and Vietnam have greatly facilitated the strategic alignment of China's Belt and Road Initiative with Vietnam's Two Corridors and One Circle plan. In the future, the two countries will strengthen cooperation under multilateral frameworks to realize their respective economic development aspirations, promote regional economic integration, and enhance the economic vitality and global competitiveness of the entire Southeast Asian region.

In terms of connectivity, in July 2023, the first international freight train from Shijiazhuang, China, to Hanoi, Vietnam, was launched, with a transport distance of more than 2,700 kilometers along the entire route. In the future, the two countries will accelerate the construction of connectivity to provide more convenient access for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and the region.

China-Vietnam economic and trade cooperation has seen many highlights. The number of Chinese enterprises investing in Vietnam has been growing year after year, in the first half of the year, Vietnam attracted investments from 84 countries and regions, of which China ranked first in the number of new investment projects, accounting for 29.1% of the total number of foreign investment projects in Vietnam in the first half of the year, a figure that reflects China's economic investment activities in Vietnam has become an important force in the promotion of the development of relations between the two sides; in the area of tourism, the number of Chinese tourists coming to Vietnam in the first three months of this year amounted to nearly 890,000 people. The number of tourists reached nearly 890,000, an increase of 634.5 percent over the same period last year; in terms of civil exchanges, up to now, 60 provinces and cities in Vietnam have concluded friendly and cooperative relations with the Chinese side.

With in-depth cooperation between the two countries in industrial chain, supply chain, standardization and other aspects, China-Vietnam economic and trade cooperation will usher in a brighter future.