China and Vietnam should focus on improving infrastructure in
the two corridors involving two southwestern Chinese cities and
four northern Vietnamese localities, Chinese ambassador to Vietnam
said in Lao Cai Province on Sunday at an international seminar
attended by the Chinese and the Vietnamese representatives.
At the seminar, entitled "measures to develop Vietnam-China two
economic corridors and one belt in new contexts", the Chinese
ambassador Hu Qianwen proposed that the two sides should regard
areas along the roads and railways in the two corridors, and ports
and logistics services in the Beibu gulf economic belt as major
points for bilateral cooperation on trade and investment.
China has improved and constructed necessary infrastructure
networks in the two corridors very well, he said, adding that it is
most important for the two sides, especially Vietnam, to improve
transport systems.
At the one-day seminar, representatives from Vietnamese
ministries and research institutes stated that the two sides should
center on seeking funds and human resources to facilitate the
construction of the two corridors and the belt, especially their
infrastructure networks.
"Most important measure is speeding up cooperation on building
socioeconomic infrastructure, including expressways, rail routes,
seaports, power plants, telecommunications networks, wastewater
treatment plants, and infrastructure of border areas," Nguyen Ba
An, vice director of the Development Strategy Institute under the
Ministry of Planning and Investment, said, adding that the two
sides should prioritize construction of expressways of
Kunming-LaoCai-Hanoi-Hai Phong, and Nanning-Lang Son-Hanoi-Hai
Phong.
In May 2004, the governments of China and Vietnam agreed to
develop the two economic corridors, and the Beibu Gulf economic
belt involving China's Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Hong Kong and
Macao, and 10 coastal localities of Vietnam, to speed up
socioeconomic development of the involved cities and provinces, as
well as their trade and economic ties with the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations.
(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2007)
