Trade fair to further expand China-Vietnam links

HANOI -- The 2012 China's Guangxi-Vietnam Trade Fair, that kicked off in Hanoi on Thursday last week, has ushered a more vibrant trade relations between Vietnam and China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

With 140 pavilions covering an area of 4,500 square meters, the four-day fair showcased over 1,000 different products, including electrical machinery, sugar production technology, construction materials, food, medicines and other high-tech products.

On display at the trade fair's outdoor pavilion were China-made heavy equipment such as trucks, excavators and cars.

"In recent years, the sector of new energy vehicles in China has developed strongly," Yang Bin, general manager of the China Sumpo Electricmotor Fabricate company, said.

Interviewed by Xinhua, Yang said that apart from being environment-friendly, using electric vehicle is also very economical. "The cost of using electric vehicle is only one-tenth of the cost of maintaining a motorcycle," Yang said.

Vietnam is known as the world's motorcycle capital with some 5 million motorcycles plying the roads of Hanoi alone.

"We hope that we can soon work with the Vietnamese government to bring our products to Vietnam. We plan to set up an assembly plant here not only to save on costs and also to promote local employment," Yang said.

Ma Jixian, deputy director-general of the Department of Commerce of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said that the holding of the trade fair is an important step in promoting economic cooperation between Guangxi and Vietnam.

"Since 2006, Guangxi has held six Guangxi-Vietnam trades fair which have received very good response from local enterprises," Ma said.

"Thanks to the holding of these trade fair, the trade volume between Guangxi and Vietnam has kept increasing around 40 percent annually in the past few years and the value of contracts signed during trade fairs has also increased about 50 percent year-on- year," Ma added.

According to the Guangxi Department of Commerce, the commercial ties between Guangxi and Vietnam have been strengthened in recent years, with bilateral trade increasing by 47.7 percent over the 2010 figure to nearly $7.6 billion in 2011.

Government statistics showed that trade turnover between Vietnam and Guangxi topped among ASEAN countries, accounting for 79.3 percent of the total trade between Guangxi and ASEAN.

As of 2011, Guangxi has invested in 133 projects in Vietnam with total capital of $278.7 million. Vietnam, on the other hand, has 23 investment projects in the province, worth $90.4 million. According to Ma, Vietnam is a very important trading partner of Guangxi and Guangxi always attach great importance to the development of economic and trade cooperation with Vietnam.

Xu Qisong, commercial counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam said that Vietnam and China have many things in common in geographic location and even in some cultural aspects.

At present, China is Vietnam's major export market of rice, coal, and natural rubber. Vietnam, on the other hand, imports machinery and equipment, textile raw materials, construction materials, home appliances and agricultural products from China.

In recent years, China's import from Vietnam has increased rapidly. In the first half of this year, China's import from Vietnam increased 58.6 percent year-on-year.

Xu said that the two countries are working closely to realize the trade target of $60 billion by 2015.