Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) and Chinese Premier Li Qiang take a photo before holding talks. Photo: VNA

Chinh welcomed Li’s official visit to Vietnam, which is also the first by a Chinese Premier over the past 11 years. He expressed his belief that the visit would be a success, spreading the positive impact to ministries, agencies, sectors and localities of the two countries about both sides’ determination in realising the high-level perceptions and developing the bilateral relationship in a more effective, practical and comprehensive manner, thus contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world as well.

In an atmosphere of sincerity, friendship, and openness, the two leaders informed each other about the situation of each Party and each country. They deeply evaluated the implementation of common perceptions and cooperation agreements in many fields between the two countries and agreed on directions and measures to contribute to the effective implementation of the direction of "six major goals" and the building of a Vietnam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance reached by the top leaders of the two Parties and countries during high-level visits, and most recently the state visit to China by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and State President To Lam in August 2024.

Congratulating the Chinese Party, Government and fraternal people on their achievements over the past 75 years, PM Chinh affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to strengthening and developing its friendly and cooperative relations with China, considering it a consistent policy, an objective requirement, a strategic choice, and a top priority in Vietnam's foreign policy.

Li expressed his delight at paying the first official visit to Vietnam in his position as the Premier, stressing that China highly evaluates its relationship with Vietnam and always considers Vietnam a priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy policy.

Both leaders noted with pleasure the significant and encouraging achievements in the bilateral friendship and cooperation, with strengthened political trust, frequent exchanges and meetings at various levels, and accelerated strategic connectivity, particularly in transport connectivity. Practical cooperation across multiple sectors has achieved concrete results, with two-way trade increasing by 21.9% in the first nine months of 2024. Tourism cooperation has also shown a robust recovery, with Chinese tourist arrivals to Vietnam reaching 2.7 million in the same period, surpassing the total number for the whole 2023. Locality-to-locality collaboration has been vibrant while multilateral coordination has become closer and more effective.

Regarding the bilateral cooperation in the coming time, they agreed to effectively realise the common perceptions reached by the top leaders of the two Parties and nations; continue consolidating political trust and maintaining regular meetings and exchanges at all levels. They committed to enhancing mechanisms for exchanges and cooperation, particularly in diplomacy, national defence and public security; promoting practical cooperation in key areas, increasing people-to-people exchanges, and reinforcing the solid social foundation for the development of the Vietnam-China relations.

The two leaders pledged to maintain close collaboration and mutual support within multilateral mechanisms and forums; and cooperate effectively in land border management. At the talks, the two prime ministers formally announced the official operation of the Ban Gioc (Vietnam) – Detian (China) waterfall scenic area from October 15, 2024.

The Vietnamese PM suggested expediting the necessary procedures to open a Vietnamese Consulate General in Chongqing as soon as possible, further advancing trade cooperation and expanding market access for high-quality Vietnamese agricultural products, including citrus fruits, pomelo, avocado, custard apple, water apple, traditional herbal medicines of plant origin, buffalo, beef, pork, livestock and poultry products, and farm-raised ornate spiny lobster. He also requested support for establishing a Vietnamese Trade Promotion Office in Haikou this year, and more offices in Chengdu (Sichuan) and Nanjing (Jiangsu) in the near future.

He called for improved customs clearance efficiency at border gates, advancing “soft connectivity” through smart customs, and launching new models for cross-border economic cooperation between Vietnam and China.

China has continuously been Vietnam's largest trading partner and Vietnam's second largest export market. Vietnam is China's largest trading partner in ASEAN and China's 5th largest trading partner in the world. Bilateral trade reaching 171.9 billion USD in 2023 and 148.6 billion USD in the first nine months of 2024.

China's investment in Vietnam reached 4.47 billion USD with 707 projects in 2023, making it the 4th largest investor in Vietnam in terms of registered capital and the largest in number of projects. In the first nine months of 2024, China was the second largest foreign investor in Vietnam with registered capital totaling 3.2 billion USD, accounting for 13% of the FDI in Vietnam. By August 2024, China had invested 29 billion USD in Vietnam, ranking 6th among 148 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with more than 4,800 projects./. ​