Diao Weihong, Deputy Director of Guangxi's Department of Commerce, speaks at the event. VNA/VNS Photo Nhật Anh

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam has maintained its position as the largest trade partner of China's Guangxi province for 23 consecutive years, with import and export trade turnover of the two sides so far reaching 200 billion Chinese yuan.

The information was released at a seminar held Thursday by the Guangxi Department of Commerce in collaboration with the Asia-Africa Market Department, under Việt Nam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and Vinexad Company.

Guangxi now has 181 enterprises investing in Việt Nam, under non-financial type, with total amount of investment committed by China is US$1.26 billion, and the actual total investment capital of $140 million.

Việt Nam has established a total of 57 enterprises in Guangxi, with a total contracted investment capital of $184 million.

Speaking at the conference, Tô Ngọc Sơn - Deputy Director General of the Asia-Africa Market Department under Việt Nam's Ministry of Industry and Trade expressed his pleasure to hear that China has removed all PCR tests and concentrated isolation after January 8, 2023. This is a good premise for agencies and businesses of the two sides to have the opportunity to restore exchange and cooperation activities, contributing to bringing more benefits to businesses and people of the two countries.

According to Sơn, for many years Guangxi has played a very important role as a bridge in promoting bilateral trade between Việt Nam and China.

Import and export between Guangxi and Việt Nam turnover in 11 months of 2022 reached 172.65 billion Chinese yuan, equivalent to $25.5 billion and accounting for 29.3 per cent of total import and export turnover of Guangxi and the world.

However, the exchange of goods between the two countries also faces many difficulties. Import and export turnover through border gates has decreased continuously.

In the first 11 months of 2022, import and export turnover with China through the border gates in Việt Nam’s Lạng Sơn province decreased by 39.4 per cent over the same period in 2021; while import and export turnover through border gates in Quảng Ninh province decreased by 68.7 per cent year-on-year.

To overcome the above difficulties, Sơn recommended the Guangxi Department of Commerce coordinate with relevant agencies of Guangxi to soon complete the process and regulations for import and export of goods, creating the most favourable conditions for customs clearance activities.

Businesses need to manage product quality, increase understanding of information and regulations of the Chinese side with imported products, ensuring goods are cleared smoothly, saving time and costs.

For his part, Diao Weihong, deputy director of the Department of Commerce, said that Guangxi is willing to work with Việt Nam to promote cooperation between the two sides; wishing that trade exchanges will take place wider and deeper, bringing richer results.

Currently, the economic and trade cooperation between Guangxi and Việt Nam has entered an important stage of upgrading, he said. VNS