China and Vietnam have agreed to boost their economic and trade cooperation, and fulfill the two- way trade target of 15 billion US dollars by 2010.

At a two-day meeting of the China-Vietnam Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation that concluded on Wednesday, the two sides agreed to encourage their enterprises to export big- potential items to each other. Specifically, China will promote selling machines, construction materials and electric home appliances, and buying crude oil, coal, farm products and seafood from Vietnam.

Eyeing a stable and long-term development, they also agreed to foster trade activities via official channels and strengthen border trade.

China promised to urge its firms to invest more in Vietnam, especially in the fields of textile, electronic products, rubber, fruits and seafood.

The two countries also agreed to create favorable conditions for their firms to well implement their investment projects in each other, and accelerate license granting process.

They also stressed the importance of beefing up cooperation in agriculture, transport, tourism, education and training, and customs, and promised to have more coordination in monitoring animal diseases at border gates, exploiting and protecting their joint rivers, training agricultural experts and preventing smuggling.

The two-way trade between China and Vietnam, which stood at 6. 74 billion US dollars in 2004, up 45.3 percent against 2003, is expected to reach 8 billion dollars this year.

As of Aug. 22, China, with 346 operational projects capitalized at 710.4 million dollars, ranked the 14th among 62 countries and regions investing in Vietnam.

Source: Xinhua