HCM CITY – HCM City and China’s Shandong Province aim to facilitate bilateral trade by holding more networking events, encouraging investments between both sides, and signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), promising more support in the future.

During a conference held at HCM City on Wednesday, numerous businesses in different fields from Shandong and Việt Nam met to find potential partners.

Võ Tân Thành, director of the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s HCM City branch (VCCI), said that Việt Nam and China have had a close business partnership for 68 years.

According to VCCI, in 2017, bilateral trade between the two countries was over US$93.6 billion (30 per cent higher than 2016), accounting for 22 per cent of Việt Nam’s total bilateral trade.

Việt Nam exported over US$35.4 billion to China (61.6 per cent higher than 2016), focusing on products such as seafood, rice, rubber, garments and mobile phones.

As of March 2018, China ranked seventh among countries investing in Việt Nam, with nearly 1,900 projects valued over $12.4 billion.

In addition, according to Wei Xichen, consul general of Chinese Embassy in HCM City, many Chinese companies are interested in working with Vietnamese companies in fields such as rubber, fishery processing and tailoring.

Compared to other markets, China is very open to Vietnamese goods without having many requirements, as long as the goods are of high quality, he said.

China is especially fond of Việt Nam’s basa fish, cashew, coffee beans, peppers and dragon fruit.

Shandong is one of China’s most populated and economically developed regions, with a 2017 GDP of over $1 trillion, ranked third in China, according to Liu Xiaojiang, deputy chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) – Shandong Sub-council.

The province also excels in fields such as agriculture, mechanics, construction and food processing.

“The province considers Việt Nam to be one of the most important business partners in ASEAN. In 2017, bilateral trade between Shandong and Việt Nam was around $5.5 billion,” Liu said.

Vietnamese firms have been encouraged to visit Shandong to find more opportunities to work with local businesses.

The International Imports Exhibition in Shanghai, to be held in November, has invited Việt Nam to attend.

The VCCI and CCPIT also signed an MoU to foster trade, promising to increase collaboration efforts and networking opportunities for firms so they can find reliable long-term partners.

According to VCCI, Việt Nam and China aim to reach a two-way trade of over $100 billion by 2018. – VNS