The Vietnamese Consulate General in China’s Hong Kong and Macau has held a ceremony to mark the 64th anniversary of Vietnam-China diplomatic ties (January 18).

Speaking at the January 17 event, Consul General Nguyen Thi Nha recalled the two countries’ traditional friendship over the past 64 years, affirming that since the normalisation of the bilateral diplomatic relations in 1991, their ties have enjoyed incessant development in all fields.

President Truong Tan Sang’s visit to China, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang’s trip to Vietnam, and his meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung in China’s Guangxi province last year, have helped deepen the two countries’ strategic comprehensive cooperative partnership, helping both sides solve existing problems between them, Nha said.

She also expressed her delight at the fine development in relations between Vietnamese localities and Hong Kong, particularly in economics and trade.

In the first 11 months of 2013, two-way trade between Vietnam and Hong Kong hit 11.2 billion USD, a year-on-year rise of 11.6 percent.

By the end of 2013, Hong Kong had poured investment into 760 projects in Vietnam with a total capital of 12.6 billion USD. It ranked sixth among more than 100 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner Song Zhe stressed that developing the friendship between Vietnam and China is essential to meet the basic interests of the two countries and their peoples, adding that the ties between Vietnam and Hong Kong are an important part of that.

He also spoke highly of the consulate general’s efforts to intensify the Hong Kong-Vietnam partnership, affirming that he will continue supporting the agency.-VNA