BEIJING — Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam attended the opening ceremony of the 5th China – South Asia Expo (CAS Expo) and the 25th China Kunming Import and Export Commodities Fair in Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan Province on Thursday. 

In his remarks at the event, Đam spoke highly of the role of the two fairs in fostering co-operation in economy output, trade and investment between businesses in Southeast Asia, South Asia and China. Việt Nam will continue creating favourable conditions for companies from the regional countries and around the world to do long-term business in the country, in a bid to expand friendship and win-win partnerships among nations in the pursuit of regional and global prosperity. 

The 190,000sq.m expo features around 8,500 booths run by more than 3,800 exhibitors from 53 countries and territories. This year’s event sees nearly 100 Vietnamese exhibitors at 200 booths showcasing products like seafood, cashew nuts, coffee, fruits, cassava, coconut products from Bến Tre Province, footwear, fragrance, timber and handicrafts. 

A series of events are scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the expos, including the first China – South Asia Co-operation Forum, the 13th China – South Asia Business Forum, the second China – Southeast Asia Business Forum and the 10th Greater Mekong Sub-region Economic Corridor Week. 

Deputy PM Đam also held talks with Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua and received the Governor of Yunnan Ruan Chengfa. 

During the talk with Hu, the Vietnamese official gave an overview of Việt Nam’s socio-economic achievements in recent years. He also praised the development of Việt Nam and China’s friendship and co-operation and reaffirmed that Việt Nam always attaches importance to the enhancement of its stable and long-term relations with China. 

He asked China to continue facilitating key Vietnamese products’ better access to the Chinese market and to ensure the quality and progress of the two countries’ joint projects. At the same time, he suggested the two governments support the strengthened partnership between Vietnamese and Chinese localities along the shared border and maintain a stable environment for the promotion of the bilateral friendship. 

Speaking with Ruan, Đam said Việt Nam supports and is ready to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese localities to bolster ties with Yunnan. He also asked Yunnan to closely work with Vietnamese side to effectively implement the common perception agreed by the two countries’ leaders and further expand co-operation in the fields of economy and trade as well as tourism and education, contributing the economic development of both sides’ border areas. 

Both Hu and Ruan, for their parts, reiterated that China also attaches significance to developing friendly neighbourliness and comprehensive co-operation with Việt Nam. They stressed that the potential for bilateral collaboration remains huge and China is willing to enhance the effectiveness of its partnership with Việt Nam and work with the neighbouring country to settle emerging issues and boost the stable and healthy development of the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. — VNS