China-Vietnam border business makes notable progress

The fifth conference on co-operation in the economic corridor between China’s Yunnan Province and Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Ha Noi and Lao Cai in Viet Nam began in Ha Long City yesterday.

The two-day conference has attracted more than 70 business people from cities and provinces in the corridor together with ministry and industry leaders.

The focus is on assessing the implementation of the minutes of last year’s conference signed in Hai Phong City.

Discussions also centre around co-operation orientations for specific areas, including trade and investment, tourism, transport, education and training, culture, sports and health.

This is aimed at enabling participating localities to overcome difficulties on their own and support each other.

The conference was told co-ordination between the cities and provinces in the economic corridor had already helped speed up socio-economic development and was helping overcome the affects of the global economic downturn.

Four projects worth US$11.6 million were financed by Yunnan investors in Viet Nam during the past year.

The number of Chinese tourists also continues to increase, amounting to more than 19,000 people in July alone this year, an increase of 7.5% compared with the same period last year.

The annual conference is part of the implementation of the ‘Two Corridors and One Economic Belt’ policy agreed between Viet Nam and China.