Foreign and Military Affairs

China and Vietnam mark 60th anniversary of ties

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-09 01:25

BEIJING：Vietnamese Ambassador to China Nguyen Van Tho said here Friday the two countries will host more than 30 activities in 2010 as Vietnam and China celebrate the 60th anniversary of Vietnam-China diplomatic ties and the year of friendship.

The activities also aim to boost mutual understanding, trust and cooperation between the two countries and peoples, said the ambassador.

In 2010, Vietnam and China expect to maintain high-level exchanges and conduct political, economic, cultural and people's exchanges as well, Nguyen told a press conference at the Vietnamese embassy in Beijing.

Vietnam will also actively participate in the 2010 World Expo, to be held in Shanghai in May, and China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning of southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to carry out sport and cultural activities between the two countries' border areas. The Chinese side has proposed to invite 3,000 Vietnamese young people to visit Guangxi.

Nguyen said Vietnam, which assumes rotating presidency of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), attached great importance to establishing strategic cooperation relations with China.

China has been Vietnam's largest trade partner since 2004. Despite the global financial crisis, bilateral trade reached nearly 18 billion US dollars in the first 11 months this year, up 0.6 percent year-on-year.

Nguyen said China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) would give new impetus to the development of China-Vietnam bilateral trade and economy.

CAFTA, the world's largest free trade area of developing countries, started operation on January 1. It covers a population of 1.9 billion and accounts for about 4.5 trillion US dollars in trade volume.

"We look to capable Chinese enterprises to invest and contract projects in Vietnam," the ambassador said.