Participants at the talks (Photo: VNA)

Secretary of the Party Committee of Lang Son province Nguyen Quoc Doan held talks with Liu Ning, Secretary of the Party Committee of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in Lang Son city on March 30, during which they discussed measures to further expand border trade cooperation.

The two sides positively evaluated the close high-level relationship between the two Parties and States, as well as between Lang Son and Guangxi, which has been increasingly strengthened and nurtured. They also discussed measures to promote the potential and strengths, and step up cross-border trade.

Liu said he hopes the two countries will continue to strengthen strategic development and connection and deepen practical cooperation in various fields, thus strongly promoting the partnership and comprehensive strategic cooperation in the new era.

The Chinese official said Guangxi is currently implementing measures to promote the smooth distribution of resources and circulation of market factors in China and ASEAN countries, including Vietnam.

The locality will make it easier for Vietnam to export its goods, especially agricultural products, to the Chinese market, he stated, expressing his hope that the two sides will enhance transportation connectivity, focusing on highways connecting border gates.

He urged Lang Son to expedite the construction of a highway section from the Huu Nghi International Border Gate to Chi Lang, saying that both sides are working together to upgrade the railway from Pingxiang (China) to Dong Dang (Lang Son) and Hanoi.

The two sides should jointly promote the construction of a smart border gate pilot project on the specialised cargo route between Tan Thanh (Lang Son) and Pu Zhai (Guangxi), and implement the round-the-clock customs clearance service to facilitate the trade of agricultural products, the official said.

He also stressed the need for the localities to build a mechanism to jointly share information related to goods and means of transport across borders and to enhance cooperation in border management, preventing and combating smuggling and cross-border crimes, improving the capacity of bilateral border management, and building border fences.

For his part, Doan affirmed that Lang Son province will thoroughly consider related issues and proposals put forward in order to promote infrastructure connectivity, and accelerate the development of an express cross-border route for goods transportation between Vietnam and China and the construction of a smart border gate.

He suggested strengthening the exchange of delegations and specific and practical cooperation activities between the Party committees and authorities of the two localities; focusing attention on implementing agreements signed at the spring meeting between secretaries of the Party committees of Vietnamese and Chinese localities, and the 14th Conference of the Joint Working Committee between four Vietnamese border provinces and Guangxi; and stepping up import-export activities, border crossing.

The Vietnamese official also proposed Guangxi complete internal procedures to put the specialised cargo transport route into official operation before June this year.

Doan also called for coordination between the two sides in to approve investment proposals to uphold the role of the Dong Dang - Pingxiang international railway border gate pair in import-export activities. Furthermore, he emphasised the importance of effectively implementing the three legal documents on the border and the minutes of the Vietnam-China Land Border Joint Committee’s meetings.

He expressed his belief that the two localities will continue creating breakthroughs to develop their friendly cooperation relationship into a shining example in the overall relationship between Vietnam and China./.