Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh arrived in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China, on Saturday morning to attend the 20th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS) slated for September 16-17.

Welcoming the PM at Nanning airport were Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Hung Ba, Envoy at the Vietnamese Embassy in Beijing Ninh Thanh Cong, Vietnamese Consul General to Nanning Do Nam Trung, some other officials of both sides, and representatives of the Vietnamese community in the city.

PM Chinh is accompanied by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc, Chairman of the Commission for Management of State Capital at Enterprises Nguyen Hoang Anh, and Secretary of Lang Son Province Party Committee Nguyen Quoc Doan. 

Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs, National Defense, Planning and Investment, Public Security, Transport, Agriculture and Rural Development are also in the PM’s entourage.

PM Chinh has been scheduled to have meetings on Saturday with his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liu Ning, and a number of delegation leaders from countries attending the 2023 CAEXPO and CABIS.

During his two-day trip, made at the invitation of the Chinese government, the Vietnamese leader will deliver his important speeches at both events. 

The 20th CAEXPO and CABIS have the theme of “Building a harmonious homeland, a common destiny to the future - promoting high-quality development of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and building an economic growth center.”

China’s Guangxi young people, in their traditional costumes, welcome Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Nanning City on September 16, 2023. Photo: Duy Linh / Tuoi Tre

The CAEXPO and CABIS are one of four important activities that the Chinese government organizes annually, along with the Boao Forum, Davos Tianjin Forum and Shanghai International Import Fair.

The events are part of a series of events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership.

As one of China’s top 10 annual exhibition fairs, this year’s CAEXPO is the first to be held in the in-person format after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vietnam has been the ASEAN country with the largest number of participating booths and businesses at each fair so far.

This year, Vietnam continues to have the biggest scale in the bloc with 250 booths in an area of 5,000 square meters.

The PM’s two-day trip shows Vietnam’s respect for this event, the Vietnam - China ties and the ASEAN - China relations.

Among the 19 previous events, Vietnam attended five times at the PM level and 14 times at the Deputy PM level.

The current trip takes place as the two countries are celebrating the 15th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, the highest level of relations between Vietnam and a partner.

Last year, the bilateral trade rose by 5.47 percent year on year to US$175.56 billion, with Vietnam’s exports to China valued at $57.7 billion, up 3.18 percent, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Vietnam has become China’s largest trade partner among the ASEAN member countries, and the fourth among the countries in the world.

During the first half of 2023, China invested nearly $1.3 billion in 233 projects in Vietnam, becoming the third largest investors in the country after Singapore and Japan.

As of June 20, 2023, Chinese investors had operated a total of 3,791 investment projects worth over $25 billion in Vietnam, ranking sixth among the countries and territories investing in the Southeast Asian nation.

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