Measures sought to facilitate Vietnam-China agro-aquatic product trade

Lang Son (VNA) – Officials of Vietnam and China as well as Vietnamese localities on February 14 gathered at a conference in the northern border province of Lang Son to seek measures to facilitate agro-aquatic product trade between the two countries.

Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said that as part of efforts to realise the Vietnam-China joint statement on continuing to promote and deepen the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, the two sides have agreed to further step up the trade of high quality agricultural and food products.

Highlighting that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has worked closely with the Chinese side to ensure smooth the trade of agro-aquatic products between the two countries, Hoan hoped that authorised agencies of Guangxi (China) and border localities of Vietnam will continue their coordination to further promote the bilateral trade of farm produce and food.

He called for enterprises and trade associations to give their advice and proposals to help the ministry design plans and programmes to facilitate border trade with China in the time to come.

The minister noted that Vietnam has for many years been the largest trade partner of China among ASEAN countries and the sixth biggest in the world. Meanwhile, China is the largest trade partner and the biggest export market of Vietnam.

In 2022, import-export revenue of agro-forestry-aquatic products between the two countries reached 14.2 billion USD, up 12.7% year on year, including 10.4 billion USD worth of Vietnamese exports.

According to To Ngoc Son, Vice Director of the Asia-Africa Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that last year, trade between Guangxi and Vietnam hit 29.2 billion USD, accounting for 95% of total border trade between the two countries.

He suggested that localities step up cooperation with the Chinese locality in operating border gates, while increase the provision of information about customs clearance and seeking measures to strengthen mutual support and paying greater attention to the domestic market.

In order to remove obstacles, Lu Xian, a representative from the General Administration of Customs of China, said that the administration will continue to coordinate closely with their Vietnamese partners to review the dossiers of goods to be exported to the Chinese market, with a focus on examining the processing, cleansing procedures and certificates of origin.

He advised Vietnamese firms to clearly understand the process and regulations as well as food examining and monitoring methods to ensure fast and smooth customs clearance activities.

Meanwhile, Wang Jianbo, Chairman of the Guangxi Business Association, recommended Vietnam to boost e-commerce activities for trading of farm produce with China./.