Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Minister ofIndustry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh and his Chinese counterpart Gao Yanco-chaired the 10th meeting of the Vietnam-China Committee forEconomic and Trade Cooperation in Hanoi, focusing on measures to reduceVietnam’s trade deficit with China.

They were delighted that Vietnam-China trade is growingtowards a balanced manner.

Vietnam’s statistics showed that two-way trade reached 71.9 billion USD in 2016,a rise of 7.9 percent over the previous year, while trade deficit reduced 13.67percent year on year.

By the end of August this year, trade between the twocountries hit 55.2 billion USD, up 23.59 percent over the same period lastyear, with Vietnam running a deficit of 17.7 billion USD, down 5.76 percent.

China continued to be Vietnam’s top trade partner,while Vietnam was China’s biggest partner in ASEAN and ninth biggest in theworld.

The Chinese side agreed tospeed up the evaluation of Vietnamese milk and dairy products, while steppingup the quarantine of Vietnamese fruits before allowing the import of theseproducts to China.

At the same time, the twosides discussed a wide range of issues to manage the quality of Vietnamese ricein the Chinese market, while concurring to increase the exchange of informationto facilitate the export of rice and alive pigs to China.

Both countries will encouragebusinesses and relevant trade associations to foster connections to increasethe export of Vietnamese farm produce, aquatic products and fruits to China.

They also recognised theeffective operation of Vietnam’s Trade Promotion Office in China’s Chongqingcity in bolstering bilateral economic and trade cooperation and supportingbusinesses of both sides. The Chinese side is finalizing procedures to approvethe formation of a similar office in Hangzhou on the occasion of the Chineseleaders’ visit to Vietnam and attend the APEC Summit in November this year.

They will work together to dealwith problems in joint projects, such as the Cat Linh – Ha Dong urban railway project,while discussing the signing of an agreement on cooperation in some additionalprojects in the future.

Both sides will also negotiatefor the early signing of a protocol replacing the 1992 Vietnam-China borderrailway protocol, and launch a feasibility study for the use of China’s aidpackage worth 1 billion CNY (nearly 150 million USD) to build a traditionalmedicine academy in Vietnam in 2017.-VNA