During his official visit to Vietnam, Chinese Premier Li Qiang highlighted a commitment to deepen collaboration with the Southeast Asian nation in emerging industries ranging from green development to digital economy.
China is willing to continue to make bigger the pie of economic and trade cooperation with Vietnam, said Li during talks with To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and Vietnamese president on the first day of his three-day visit from Saturday to Monday.
When meeting with Tran Thanh Man, chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam, the Chinese premier said the two countries' legislatures should strongly support practical cooperation in various fields and focus more on innovation.
He urged legal guarantees from both sides to strengthen cooperation in emerging industries such as digital economy, new energy and 5G.
This commitment came at a crucial time as both countries seek to transition towards more sustainable energy solutions and capitalize on the potential of innovative industries, analysts said.
While China leads in green economy, not least in renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs), Vietnam has been actively transitioning its energy sector, said Hoang Quoc Dung, a member of the executive committee of the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment.
"Therefore, I am confident that Vietnam and China can carry out extensive and effective cooperation in this respect in the coming years," said the environmental expert.
Additionally, cooperation in smart manufacturing, data centers and e-commerce is poised to become new drivers for Vietnam-China economic relations, he said, alluding to a commitment to expand collaboration in digital economy made during the meeting between Li and his Vietnamese counterpart, Pham Minh Chinh.
When meeting with Li on Sunday, Pham Minh Chinh reaffirmed the commitment to expand collaboration with China in emerging sectors like digital economy and green development.
The Chinese premier vowed to strengthen the alignment of development strategies with Vietnam, carrying out the plan of synergizing the Belt and Road Initiative with Vietnam's Two Corridors and One Economic Circle strategy.
China and Vietnam are both developing countries standing at a critical stage in their modernization drives, Li said, pledging to continuously improve and upgrade cooperation across various sectors with the Southeast Asian nation.
China is ready to deepen cooperation with Vietnam in areas such as connectivity, trade, investment, tourism, healthcare, and disaster prevention and mitigation, as well as expand collaboration in local currency settlement and emerging industries, notably digital economy and green development, Li said.
Do Thi Thu, a lecturer at the Banking Academy of Vietnam, observed that in the context of building a China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, ample and fresh opportunities are unleashed for the two countries to cooperate in technology and innovation where China excels and Vietnam has significant needs.
In a symposium gathering representatives of Chinese and Vietnamese entrepreneurs and attended by the two premiers, Li said economic and trade cooperation has always been a highlight of China-Vietnam cooperation and an important source of driving force for advancing bilateral ties.
He called on the entrepreneurs to engage more actively in national development strategies, and make full use of multilateral and bilateral economic and trade cooperation agreements and policy dividends.
Li proposed that the entrepreneurs should jointly promote the integrated development of industries, deepen mutual integration of supply and demand, and build stable and smooth cross-border industrial and supply chains.
He also urged the entrepreneurs to pool innovation and creativity, and strengthen the whole-chain innovation cooperation between industry, academia, research and utilization, with a particular focus on clean energy, biomedicine and artificial intelligence, so as to jointly foster and strengthen new driving forces for the development of the two countries.
Nguyen The Su, a member of the Vietnam-China Friendship Association and retired professor of the Chinese Studies Department of Hanoi University, applauded Li's first official visit to Vietnam, saying it served as a concrete step in implementing the important consensus reached between the top leaders of the two parties and countries.
"It has effectively strengthened strategic trust between the two countries and facilitated the advancement of key cooperation projects," he said.