China vows to speed up cross-border economic zone development with Vietnam

China is working on diversifying the cooperation model with Vietnam in the border areas and committed to the construction of a cross-border economic zone, said a Chinese official at a seminar here.

Ma Biao, Chairman of southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, told a seminar on economic corridor development held here during his ongoing six-day visit in Vietnam for trade and culture promotion.

Ma said the border trade between China and Vietnam has been developing prosperously in recent years. Following the establishment of the free trade area between China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the beginning of this year, China is working on measures to expand the cooperation methods in the border areas from trade to investment, processing and manufacturing, as well as tourism.

Ma said China is also committed to building a cross-border economic zone in the China-Vietnam border.

China and Vietnam decided in 2007 to each allocate 8.5 square kilometers of land from China's border city of Pingxiang in Guangxi and Vietnam's border town of Dong Dang in Lang Son province to build a cross-border economic zone.

China finished the feasibility study on the Chinese side of the economic zone in 2009.

Ma proposed that China and Vietnam should grant more preferential policies to the Pingxiang-Dong Dang cross-border economic zone, and build it into a regional import-export processing center, an international trade base and an international logistics center.