The upcoming State visit to Vietnam by General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President of China Xi Jinping from December 12-13 is expected to help deepen and elevate the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, according to Ambassador of Vietnam to China H.E. Pham Sao Mai.

The visit takes place at a meaningful time, as the two countries are celebrating the 15th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. It demonstrates the importance the Chinese Party and State and the CPC General Secretary and President attach to Vietnam - China relations.

High-ranking leaders from the two Parties and countries will also have in-depth discussions on major, comprehensive orientations for deepening and elevating the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership; promote exchanges between senior leaders from the two Parties and countries to further consolidate political trust; and actively boost fields of cooperation, contributing to taking bilateral relations to a more practical and effective stage of development.

Evaluating Vietnam-China relations, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu said the cooperation between the two countries in economy, trade, and investment has developed more deeply. China has been Vietnam’s largest trading partner for the last 20 years, and Vietnam is currently China’s largest trading partner in ASEAN and fourth-largest in the world after the US, Japan, and South Korea.

Two-way trade reached $175.569 billion in 2022, of which Vietnam’s exports totaled $57.703 billion.

In the first ten months of this year, two-way trade was estimated at nearly $140 billion, including nearly $50 billion worth of exports from Vietnam, a year-on-year increase of 5.1 per cent.

China was Vietnam’s largest foreign investor in the January-November period, with 632 projects and capital of over $3.8 billion, thus raising total valid projects to 4,203 and registered capital $27.224 billion, ranking it third in terms of projects and sixth in terms of capital among countries and territories investing in Vietnam.