The fifth conference on the economic corridor cooperation among five cities and provinces from Vietnam and China will take place in Hanoi from November 19-21.

The targeted cities and provinces are the Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Hai Phong and the provinces of Lao Cai and Quang Ninh, along with the Chinese province of Yunnan.

Nguyen Huy Tuong, Vice Chairman of Hanoi’s Municipal People’s Committee, told a news briefing on Nov.16 that the conference will review the implementation of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed at the fourth conference, especially in the fields of tourism, investment, trade, the quarantining of goods, preventing epidemics, enhancing human resources and increasing exchanges of art and culture.

The areas concerned will continue to carry out the Sino-Vietnam Judicial Support Agreement and prioritise the joint management of security along the Economic Corridor while stepping up the fight against human and drugs trafficking, he added.

After one year of implementing the MoU from the fourth conference, a series of trade-tourism fairs were held and Hanoi, Lao Cai and Quang Ninh attracting 200 Chinese FDI projects with a total registered capital of 788.5 million USD.

A number of infrastructure projects, marking the expansion of cooperation between two countries have been completed including a border bridge across the Red River and the border checkpoint in Lao Cai while the construction of the Hanoi-Lao Cai highway has also got underway.

The next conference on this economic corridor is scheduled to take place in Lao Cai in 2010./.