An online trade conference between Vietnam and China was held in Hanoi on June 2, focusing on construction materials and interior and exterior décor.

Head of the Trade Promotion Agency Vu Ba Phu said this was the second conference jointly held by the Agency and the Department of Commerce in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) over the past two months, as part of a trade promotion agreement signed by the two offices and 10 northern Vietnamese localities in June 2019.

The conference aimed to realise a common view held by Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and Secretary of the GZAR’s Party Committee Lu Xishe on intensifying measures and cooperation between Guangxi and Vietnamese localities to resume trade and economic activities.

The production and trade of construction materials and interior and exterior décor depend very much on the real estate market.

Real estate in both Vietnam and China, however, has been downbeat since virtually the beginning of the year, especially since COVID-19 broke out.

Enterprises in the two countries operating in the field should therefore intensify their cooperation and adopt methodical investment strategies on finance and technology to anticipate new opportunities when the pandemic is defeated.

Jiang Liansheng, Director of the GZAR’s Department of Commerce, said the two sides have organised numerous fairs on construction materials and interior and exterior décor.

Two-way trade of household appliances, building materials, décor, and sanitary equipment rose from US$24.78 billion in 2017 to US$39.73 billion in 2019, of which turnover of building materials and décor increased from US$7.16 billion to US$14.76 billion, for average annual growth of 53.1%.

Phu stressed that his agency is willing to facilitate links between enterprises from Vietnam and Guangxi.