As part of her ongoing visit to China, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thi Thu Ha on April 9 met Ma Xingrui, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Guangdong province, to discuss ways to further the partnership between the two localities.

Ha expressed her delight at the growing comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and China , to which Ho Chi Minh City and Guangdong province have made significant contributions.

She praised the dynamic development of Guangdong province which made the highest contribution to the country’s GDP in 2013, with 11 percent.

The official said that Ho Chi Minh City currently has about 100,000 enterprises, most of which are private and foreign-invested ones. The city makes up one-third of Vietnam ’s total GDP and 30 percent of the national budget.

The city has also set up youth unions in all the companies with more than 10 workers, while organising Party committees in nearly 1,000 private enterprises with about 15,000 Party members, she said.

Ma Xingrui said that Guangdong and Ho Chi Minh City have long enjoyed a sound relationship with regular exchange activities.

He stressed that boosting the cooperation and experience sharing between the two localities is of great importance.

Ma also briefed his guest on the socio-economic development of the province over recent years, with 2013’s GDP exceeding 1 trillion USD, maintaining its leading position among Chinese localities in GDP value since 1989.

By 2015, the service sector is expected to account for more than 50 percent of the province’s GDP, while hi-tech production will make up 20 percent of the total, he said.

Ma added that his province will continue opening its doors and strengthening reforms to play a more important role in the silk route at sea in the 21 st century, as requested by President Xi Jinping.

On April 10, Ha is scheduled to visit the Guangzhou Automobile Company and the Vietnamese General Consulate in Guangzhou.-VNA