Vietnam calls for smooth customs procedures, fishing hotlines with China

At the 14th Meeting of the Vietnam-China Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation in China, jointly hosted by Minh and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the two officials talked about existing issues including trade imbalance, goods stuck at the border, certain economic cooperation projects and ODA.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minh requested China to facilitate smooth customs procedures, especially for the export agricultural products from Vietnam to China. He also proposed establishing “green passages” by shortening certain customs procedures and keeping the market open for Vietnamese fruits.

In response, Yi said China values Vietnam’s interests regarding the export of agricultural products to China, as well as maintaining smooth customs procedures. He affirmed that China would continue to expand its market and cooperation with Vietnam, maintain the stability of supply chains and cooperate in fields like digital economy, e-commerce, clean energy, emission reduction and infrastructure connectivity.

Regarding border and territorial matters, both Minh and Yi agreed to cooperate on managing land borders, while abiding by common awareness regarding the maintenance of peace and stability at sea.

Both agreed to boost the progress of negotiations for a new agreement on fisheries cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin and the signing of an agreement regarding rescue efforts at sea as well as one on establishing hotlines for incidents involving fishing activities at sea.

Vietnam is China’s largest commercial partner in the ASEAN bloc and the sixth largest in the world. China is also Vietnam’s largest commercial partner. Vietnam-China trade turnover in 2021 reached $165.8 billion, a 24.6 percent increase from 2020, according to Vietnam Customs.