China and Vietnam are seeing their bilateral trade grow significantly as borders cities in the two countries keep strengthening cooperation facilitating the flows of goods and personnel.
In the first seven months this year, the bilateral trade between the two countries reached 145 billion U.S. dollars, marking a significant year-over-year growth of over 20 percent.
The trade between border cities has been a crucial driver in promoting the economic and trade ties between China and Vietnam.
With nine land ports bordering Vietnam, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China has been a leader in promoting bilateral trade.
With valid certificates, residents living in Dongxing and the neighboring Mong Cai in Vietnam can walk freely into each other's countries through a 120-meter bridge and return home before nightfall. The facilitated personnel exchange helps boost the trade in the border cities.
"I come to Dongxing every day," said a Vietnamese fruit vendor.
"When sales are at their peak, about 500 kilograms can be sold every day were sold," said another Vietnamese fruit vendor selling durian.
The commercial streets in Dongxing are a prime example of the close trade ties between Guangxi and Vietnam, where consumers are able to pick their favorites from a wide assortment of snacks, condiments, and handicrafts made in the Southeast Asian country.
"I bought them for my relatives and friends," said a consumer.
As a well-known brand of Vietnam, the country's coffee industry has a noticeable presence in Dongxing.
Tourists often take a break at local coffee shops and taste a cup from Vietnam. "My coffee shop used to cover just dozens of square meters. Now it is as extensive as over 2,000 square meters. The shop is packed with consumers every day. Each time we enlarged the shop, we found it was not big enough later, so, we enlarge the shop every year," said a Vietnamese-style coffee shop owner in Dongxing.
The trade ties between Dongxing and Mong Cai has been strengthening over the recent years. The two cities will pilot the China-Vietnam cross-border economic cooperation zone to further facilitate the flow of goods and services and drive exchanges in trade, tourism, as well as culture, according to local authorities in Dongxing.
China, Vietnam see trade grow as border cities strengthening exchanges
Nearly 600 deals were inked in the first three days of the ongoing 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE), which runs from Tuesday to Sunday in Shanghai.
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the country's largest oil and gas producer and supplier, has signed procurement agreements valuing a total of 17.73 billion U.S. dollars with 26 partners from around the world, including Saudi Arabia's Aramco, France's TotalEnergies, and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. The agreements cover 42 products and services in 16 categories, including crude oil, natural gas, and general chemicals.
Sinopec, China's largest oil refiner, has signed procurement agreements valuing a total of 40.9 billion U.S. dollars with CIIE exhibitors. The deals cover 10 categories of products such as crude oil, natural gas and equipment.
Sinochem Holdings, one of the world's leading chemical conglomerates, has inked procurement agreements valuing more than 13.6 billion U.S. dollars in total with a dozen of countries and regions in the fields of high-end intelligent equipment and digital production services.
Meanwhile, Xinxing Cathay International Group has inked contracts valuing more than 2 billion U.S. dollars with exporters from South Africa, Mongolia, Laos and some other countries and regions, covering five areas of metals, agricultural products and their by products, chemicals, pulp, and energy.
Sinomach has signed agreements to purchase advanced electromechanical equipment such as gas turbines and machinery related to the light industry, textiles, metallurgy and semiconductors, valuing nearly 2.6 billion U.S. dollars in total.
Around 20,000 buyers from nearly 100 Chinese central enterprises formed 57 specialized delegations to attend the CIIE and communicate with foreign exhibitors.
"At this year's CIIE, the total value of our purchase contracts has surpassed 37 billion yuan (about 5.18 billion U.S. dollars), up 4 percent year on year and a record high. Our company has attended all the seven editions of the CIIE, with the total procurement reaching 221.8 billion yuan (about 31 billion) U.S. dollars," said Zhi Yulin, a buyer.
The 7th CIIE has also attracted 39 government trade missions and four industry trade missions, with a record high of 780 trade sub-missions, to purchase at the event.
"We have bought diverse products, including beef and dairy products, consumer daily chemical products, and some innovative medicines. The purchase amount is the highest among all the seven editions of the CIIE," said Zhao Lantian, deputy director of the Commerce Commission of Jing'an District, Shanghai.
Thanks to the steady development of multilateral cooperation, many products have made their debut at the 7th CIIE, including engine oil for hybrid cars from Saudi Arabia and avocados from the U.S., which would be sold by the Zhejiang trading mission on e-commerce platforms.
"From research and development to production, sales, channels and brand cooperation, we hope to get closer to customers by increasing investment in the Chinese market," said Zheng Zhaomin, an exhibitor.
"The CIIE is a very good and important platform for our fresh produce from around the world to access China. It is very helpful for us to explore more cuisines in other countries and help them promote and expand exports to China," said a member of the Zhejiang trading mission.
Themed "New Era, Shared Future", the 7th CIIE has the participation of 77 countries and international organizations in national pavilions, and nearly 3,500 exhibitors from 129 countries and regions in the business exhibition.
As the world's first national-level import-themed expo, the CIIE is held annually at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai.
Since its first edition in 2018, this expo has become an important stage spotlighting China's new development paradigm, a platform for high-level opening-up and a public good for the whole world.
Nearly 600 deals reached at ongoing 7th CIIE