Premier Li urges Chinese, Vietnamese entrepreneurs to boost cooperation

HANOI - Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Sunday it is hoped that Chinese and Vietnamese entrepreneurs actively follow the general trend, better seize opportunities and further strengthen cooperation for greater development of their own businesses and contribute to the common development of the two countries.

He made the remarks when addressing a symposium gathering representatives of Chinese and Vietnamese entrepreneurs. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also attended the symposium.

Li noted that in recent years, with both sides' joint efforts, China-Vietnam relations have developed steadily, and practical cooperation has yielded fruitful results.

China and Vietnam are traditional socialist friendly neighbors, and their respective development is an important opportunity for each other, he said, adding that economic and trade cooperation has always been a highlight of China-Vietnam cooperation and an important source of driving force for advancing bilateral ties.

Looking ahead, Li said, there is still more space for expansion and greater potential to be tapped in the further alignment of the development strategies of the two countries, stronger connectivity, the release of complementary advantages, as well as economic and trade cooperation.

The two countries share the same social system, strong political mutual trust, geographical proximity and affinity among their people, and enjoy a profound friendship of "comrades and brothers," which has laid a solid foundation for bilateral cooperation.

The Chinese premier called on the entrepreneurs to more actively engage in national development strategies, and make full use of multilateral and bilateral economic and trade cooperation agreements and policy dividends such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.

Li proposed that the entrepreneurs should jointly promote the integrated development of industries, deepen mutual integration of supply and demand, and build stable and smooth cross-border industrial and supply chains.

He also urged the two countries' entrepreneurs to pool innovation and creativity, and strengthen the whole-chain innovation cooperation between industry, academia, research and utilization, with a particular focus on clean energy, biomedicine and artificial intelligence, so as to jointly foster and strengthen new driving forces for the development of the two countries.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that under the guidance of the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries, Vietnam and China have deepened and solidified bilateral relations, bringing the ties into a new era of building a community with a shared future for Vietnam and China.

Noting that China is Vietnam's largest trading partner, and Vietnam is China's largest trading partner in ASEAN, he said economic and trade cooperation has become a highlight and an important pillar of the friendly relations between the two countries.

Pham Minh Chinh said Vietnam is willing to work with China in the spirit of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, further give play to complementary advantages, fully tap potential, improve the level of corporate cooperation, promote cooperation on finance, technology, investment, transportation infrastructure, digital economy, green economy, and production and supply chain connectivity, and strengthen coordination within the framework of regional economic integration.

"The Vietnamese government will continue to provide a sound business environment for enterprises and welcome Chinese enterprises to continue to expand their investment in Vietnam," he said.

The Vietnamese head of government also expressed the hope that enterprises from the two countries will jointly deepen practical cooperation, and boost the growth of bilateral relations and the respective development processes of Vietnam and China.

Representatives of participating enterprises said that the strategic guidance of the two countries' top leaders has injected strong impetus into China-Vietnam economic and trade cooperation.

They said the Belt and Road initiative is highly compatible with the Two Corridors and One Economic Circle strategy, and the business communities of the two countries are optimistic about the development prospects in each other's markets and have firm confidence in deepening cooperation.

They expressed the willingness to seize opportunities to further promote cooperation on finance, transportation infrastructure construction, digital economy, green energy, communications and logistics.