Vietnamese business leaders, academics, civic leaders welcome Xi's state visit

Vietnamese academics, business leaders, and civic leaders have welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Vietnam earlier this week, describing it as fruitful and significant.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was in Vietnam from April 14 to 15 on a visit that coincided with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Vietnam.

During the visit, Xi and To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, witnessed the signing of 45 bilateral cooperation documents between China and Vietnam covering areas including connectivity, artificial intelligence, customs inspection and quarantine, agricultural trade, culture and sports, public welfare, human resource development, media, and more.

Xi’s visit made a positive contribution to building a strategically important China-Vietnam community with a shared future and promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in Asia and the world, according to a Vietnamese academic.

"Among the six initiatives proposed by General Secretary and President Xi Jinping, the one that left the deepest impression on me is the expansion of high-quality, mutually beneficial cooperation. The 45 bilateral cooperation agreements signed between Vietnam and China cover areas such as infrastructure connectivity and economic development," Nguyen Ngoc Quan, a doctoral supervisor at the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, told China Media Group.

Nguyen Van Ha, a Vietnamese coffee industry entrepreneur, expressed his keen interest in the cooperation agreements.

"The signed documents cover artificial intelligence, customs inspection and quarantine, and agricultural trade. I am particularly interested in these areas. Strengthening collaboration between Vietnam and China aligns with the common interests of both countries," he said.

Tran Thi Phuong, the chairwoman of the Women's Federation of Kim Ma Subdistrict in Hanoi, said Vietnam had been honored by President Xi's visit.

"China and Vietnam are close neighbors connected by mountains and rivers, and we share a special bond of friendship. As representatives of Vietnamese women, we feel so honored to welcome President Xi," she said.

The U.S. dollar weakened in late trading on Wednesday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.32 percent to 99.648 at 1900 GMT.

In late New York trading, the euro was up to 1.1607 dollars from 1.1523 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.3324 dollars from 1.3189 dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 158.82 Japanese yen, lower than 158.95 Japanese yen in the previous session. The U.S. dollar decreased to 0.7931 Swiss francs from 0.8008 Swiss francs, and it was down to 1.3895 Canadian dollars from 1.3937 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar slipped to 9.3935 Swedish kronor from 9.4895 Swedish kronor.