Vietnam, China ink numerous agreements on Xi’s visit
Vietnam, China ink numerous agreements on Xi’s visit
Vietnam and China have closed multiple financing deals and bilateral agreements after Chinese President Xi Jinping began a two-day visit to Hanoi on Thursday.
Shortly after arrival, the Chinese leader, who is General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, met with Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who later both witnessed the signing of the cooperation agreements.
Among the documents is a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on boosting production capacity cooperation signed between Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce also closed an MoU on the optimization of the design of the Vietnam-China Friendship Palace, to be built in Hanoi.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Export-Import Bank of China signed a memorandum on infrastructure cooperation, while the China Development Bank sealed a US$200 million lending contract for the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam.
The China Development Bank will also provide capital for thermal power plant projects in Vietnam, and arrange finance for one such facility in the south-central region, according to two separate memoranda it closed with the Vietnam National Coal – Mineral Industries Group and the Vinh Tan 3 Energy JSC.
Vinh Tan 3 is the developer of the Vinh Tan 3 thermal power plant project, developed under the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) scheme in Binh Thuan Province.
The Chinese leader and Vietnamese Party chief also witnessed the signing of many cooperation agreements on cultural and friendship exchanges.
The documents include a cooperation plan on training personnel of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Communist Party of China in 2016-20, and an agreement on the establishment of a Vietnamese cultural center in China and vice versa, according to the Vietnam News Agency.
The Vietnamese and Chinese governments also inked a cooperation agreement on protecting and tapping the tourism resources of the Ban Gioc – Detian Falls, the two waterfalls that straddle the border between China and Vietnam in Cao Bang Province.
The two governments also exchanged a diplomatic note, according to which China will send a group of experts to Vietnam to survey the planning of a standard gauge railway route that will link Lao Cai Province, Hanoi, and the northern city of Hai Phong.
Chinese President Xi and his wife are visiting Hanoi at the invitation of Party chief Trong and Vietnamese State President Truong Tan Sang.
Xi is the first Chinese Party and State leader to visit Vietnam in nine years.
On Friday, the Chinese leader delivered a 20-minute speech before the Vietnamese National Assembly.
