China’s western city of Chongqing attaches importance to cooperating with Vietnamese localities to boost economic, trade and investment ties, said a municipal senior official.

At a meeting with visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on October 16, Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee Bo Xilai called the PM’s visit an important event in the Chongqing-Vietnam relationship, helping boost friendship and cooperation between the two countries, especially in economics, trade and investment.

He said he believed that the visit will create a new momentum for developing ties between Vietnamese localities and Chongqing city.

He added that several large Chongqing companies have established their offices in Vietnam to boost trade and investment between the two sides.

According to PM Dung, both sides should lead with their strengths to bolster cooperation and mutual assistance in an effort to elevate bilateral ties to a new phase of development, to enrich the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China .

PM Dung and the Chongqing Secretary discussed several measures to speed up mutually-beneficiary cooperation between Vietnamese and Chongqing agencies and localities, especially in economics and trade.

Both emphasised the need to establish a suitable mechanism to boost bilateral cooperation.

PM Dung highly valued Bo’s contributions to developing relations with Vietnam and expressed his hope that in his new position as Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, he will make further contributions to strengthening bilateral ties./.