Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the Beijing Capital International Airport (Source: VNA)
Beijing (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc arrived in Beijing on September 12 noon, beginning his official visit to China at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
He was welcomed at the Beijing Capital International Airport by China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin and Ambassador to Vietnam Hong Xiaoyong, the Vietnamese Embassy’s staff and representatives of the Vietnamese community in the country.
This is the first visit to China by a high-ranking leader of Vietnam after the 12 th National Party Congress.
A welcome ceremony for the PM and his entourage is scheduled to be held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing later the same day. The Vietnamese leader will then hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang and high-level meetings with Party and State leaders of China.
Vietnam and China set up their diplomatic ties on January 18, 1950.
Bilateral trade hit 95.8 billion USD in 2015, a year-on-year increase of 14.6 percent. In the first seven months of 2016, Vietnam’s exports reached 10.85 billion USD (up 14.93 percent) while its imports stood at 16.47 billion USD (down 3.42 percent).
In the first half of 2016, China ran 127 new investment projects in Vietnam with the total newly-registered and increased capital of 537.6 million USD.
As of July 2016, China (excluding Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau), secured 1,500 investment projects in Vietnam worth 10.86 billion USD, ranking ninth out of the 116 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.
China continued to take the lead in the number of tourists to Vietnam with nearly 1.5 million in the first seven months of 2016, accounting for over one quarter of international holidaymakers to Vietnam in the period.-vna
