Over 200 businesses from Vietnam and China’s Shandong province gathered at a forum in Hanoi on March 13 to seek cooperative, investment, and trade opportunities.

China has been Vietnam’s largest trading partner for more than 20 years, while Vietnam ranked first in ASEAN and seventh in the world among China’s trading partners in 2023, according to Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Trade Promotion Agency at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Shandong province posted $10.9 billion in trade turnover with Vietnam last year, ranking it eighth among Chinese localities having trade relations with the southern neighbor and accounting for some 4.8 per cent of the two countries’ total trade.

With their market sizes and complementary strengths, Vietnam and Shandong province still have a lot of space to boost economic and trade cooperation, Mr. Phu said.

Vice Governor of the Shandong Provincial People’s Government Song Junji said the two sides hold much potential and space to cooperate, particularly in trade and e-commerce.

The Shandong administration organized a delegation of over 100 enterprises to Vietnam in June last year to negotiate and seek partners.