China approved investment projects and merger & acquisition deals worth 2.45 billion USD in the first seven months of this year, ranking third among foreign investors in Vietnam, said a Chinese official.

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

At a trade conference within the framework of the Zhejiang International Trade Expo 2019 held in Ho Chi Minh City on August 1, Commercial Consul Li Jianliang at the Chinese Consulate General in the city said the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China has grown in diverse areas with two-way trade exceeding the 100 billion USD benchmark last year. 

By the end of 2018, China had invested in 2,149 projects with a total registered capital of 13.4 billion USD in Vietnam, he said. 

To Ngoc Son, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of Asia-Africa Markets, said Vietnam has increasingly integrated into the world economy and become one of the most attractive markets in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

Moreover, 12 free trade agreements, including new-generation deals - the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) - will open up the door to over the 50 largest economies in the world, he said. 

Vietnam has surpassed Malaysia to become the biggest trade partner of China in ASEAN. The country is now the fifth largest export market and the ninth biggest import market of China in the globe, Son added.