NA Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân receives Secretary of China’s Jiangsu provincial Party Committee Lou Qinjian in Nanjing city, the capital of Jiangsu province on Monday. — VNA/VNS Trọng Đức

JIANGSU — Secretary of China’s Jiangsu provincial Party Committee Lou Qinjian has said Jiangsu wants to work with Việt Nam in economic and industrial park development, people-to-people exchange, culture and tourism. 

He made the statement during a meeting with National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân in Nanjing city, the capital of Jiangsu on Monday. 

With a population of nearly 80 million people, Jiangsu is the second largest economy of China, growing by 6.7 per cent per year. 

There are nearly 600 Vietnamese students in Jiangsu, which is now home to nearly 100 tertiary education establishments, more than those in Beijing and Shanghai. The province also leads in science-technology application, he said. 

According to the host, the province has a railway route connecting with seaports in the west of China. It is in the process of economic restructuring and also strong in manufacturing and processing. 

NA Chairwoman Ngân, for her part, said it is her first visit to Nanjing and her ongoing visit is made at the invitation of Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China Li Zhanshu. 

She said the Vietnamese Party and State treasure the Việt Nam-China traditional friendship fostered by Presidents Hồ Chí Minh and Mao Zhedong and generations of leaders. 

Ngân expressed her delight that Jiangsu contributed more than US$15 billion to some $100 billion in two-way trade. 

She said Việt Nam has joined several bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements with countries globally, recently the European Union–Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement and the EU–Việt Nam Investment Protection Agreement. 

She hailed China as Việt Nam’s largest trade partner while Việt Nam is China’s largest trade partner in ASEAN. 

In Việt Nam’s external policy, China is a partner of top significance, especially in politics, diplomacy, economy, science-technology and people-to-people exchange, she said. 

Reviewing bilateral education and tourism links, the top legislator said charter flights have carried passengers from Nanjing, Changzhou to Nha Trang, Đà Nẵng, among others. 

On people-to-people exchange, she wished that Chinese localities, including Jiangsu, would realise commitments reached during visits by the two countries’ leaders. — VNS