Việt Nam, China aim for more balanced trade growth

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam and China are stepping up efforts to steer bilateral trade towards a more balanced and sustainable trajectory, with Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Lê Mạnh Hùng calling for a restructuring of production, trade, and supply chains alongside stronger investment cooperation.Hùng made the remarks during talks with Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao on Wednesday, held as part of Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm’s state visit to China.At the meeting, the two ministers reviewed recent economic and trade ties, as well as the implementation of the high-level common perceptions reached by the countries' leaders and the cooperation documents between the two ministries.They reaffirmed that Việt Nam and China remain key trading partners of each other. China has consistently been Việt Nam’s largest trading partner and second-largest export market, while Việt Nam continues to be China’s biggest trading partner in ASEAN.According to Vietnam Customs, bilateral trade reached US$256.5 billion last year, up 24.8 per cent year-on-year.Hùng urged China to expand imports of Vietnamese goods, broaden the list of products eligible for tariff preferences, and further open its market. He also called for the mutual recognition of quarantine results for agro-forestry-fishery products, facilitation of Vietnamese exports via cross-border e-commerce, and expansion of Việt Nam’s trade promotion offices across Chinese localities.Wang said China’s Ministry of Commerce will continue to support Việt Nam in setting up additional trade promotion offices, following those already established in Chongqing, Hangzhou, and Haikou.China also expressed readiness to support Việt Nam’s stronger exports through cross-border e-commerce, encouraging greater visibility of the Vietnam National Pavilion on Chinese e-commerce platforms beyond JD.com to better promote Vietnamese products to Chinese consumers.Regarding the "Big Market for All: Export to China" initiative, Wang invited Việt Nam to actively participate in five Việt Nam-related activities this year and welcomed it as a featured country in the 2027 event series.He stressed that both sides should focus on implementing the high-level common perceptions, including raising bilateral trade turnover to $500 billion in the coming years.The two ministers agreed to establish a joint technical working group to review progress and accelerate the implementation of the high-level consensus, outcomes of the talks, and commitments under the signed agreements.On this occasion, the Chinese minister invited Hùng to lead a Vietnamese delegation to the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting in Suzhou this May. The Vietnamese official also invited his host to visit Việt Nam in the near future to further discuss cooperation issues of shared interest. — VNA/VNS