Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and China’s Ministry of Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on farm produce trading to facilitate bilateral cooperation on April 22 in Hanoi.

The signing ceremony took place within the framework of the eighth session of the Vietnam-China Joint Economic and Trade Cooperation Committee that opened on the same day.

At the meeting, the two sides reviewed their economic and trade cooperation results since the seventh meeting and exchanged views on cooperation in trade and industry as well as other sectors to promote future trade and economic ties between the two countries.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu said since the last meeting, Vietnam-China trade ties have witnessed remarkable developments with two-way trade turnover exceeding 41 billion USD in 2012.

China continues to be Vietnam’s largest trade partner while Vietnam was one of China ’s most important trade partners in ASEAN, he said.

The two sides reached common consensus on issues of mutual concern, and discussed measures to raise two-way trade to 60 billion USD by 2015, reducing imports from China and strengthening cross border trade, according to Tu.

They also discussed how to accelerate and ensure the quality of projects involving Chinese contractors as well as Chinese preferential loans for Vietnamese infrastructure projects, he added.

The two sides affirmed to further strengthen cooperation between relevant ministries and agencies to remove obstacles, increasing the effectiveness of the two countries’ strategic comprehensive partnership.-VNA