The Vietnam-China business potential is huge, with almost all existing Chinese-invested projects going ahead as schedule, brining about many socioeconomic benefits, said a Vietnamese minister.

"It's my belief that, by opening up to investment, trade and integration, more opportunities will be created for Vietnamese and Chinese business people to enter a new stage of cooperation in the industrial sector," local newspaper Vietnam News Tuesday quoted Industry Minister Hoang Trung Hai as saying.

The Vietnamese government is willing to open local markets to Chinese entrepreneurs to do long-term business in Vietnam, especially in industrial investment, he said, adding that the two countries could expand their collaboration to potential areas such as engineering, electronics, information technology and paper production.

Vietnam and China have expanded industrial cooperation in many projects and programs, including those on electricity, oil, gas, chemical, steel, mining, plastic and coal, Hai said, noting that a number of large cooperative projects will be implemented in the near future.

The state-owned corporation, Electricity of Vietnam, and the China Southern Power Grid are planning to link their 220-kv and 500-kv transmission lines to exchange electricity in the coming years. Meanwhile, the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation is preparing to cooperate with major Chinese companies in petro-chemistry, oil and gas survey, and processing.

The Vietnamese and Chinese governments have signed a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of a Vietnam-China working group to study a project to mine and process bauxite in Vietnam's Dac Nong central highland province.

As of late last month, China had had 333 projects with a total registered capital of 689.1 million US dollars in Vietnam, ranking the 14th among 70 nations and regions, which have investment in the country, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment.

In the near future, Vietnam's tourism sector will concentrate on encouraging Chinese firms to invest more in tourism development projects in Vietnam, as well as accelerate the implementation of tourism cooperation agreements signed by the two countries, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

To encourage tourists to travel, the Vietnam Airlines has opened direct routes to Beijing, Guangxi and Kunming, while the China Southern Airlines and the Shanghai Airlines have launched flights to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam received over 1.7 million international arrivals in the first half of this year, posting a year-on-year rise of 23.7 percent. The number of visitors from China rose 5.7 percent to nearly 405,900, becoming Vietnam's biggest tourism market in the period, the administration said.

Source: Xinhua