China to boost solar power investment in Vietnam: Commerce Minister

Chinese businesses are striving to make more investments in Vietnam’s solar power sector, Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao told Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung.

The Chinese minister made the statement during a working session last week, during the Vietnamese minister’s three-day China visit ending March 30.

He highlighted another trend of Chinese businesses in the manufacturing-processing sector, such as apparel-textile, home appliances and wooden products, relocating to Vietnam. The electronics sector is seeing the same trend, Wang Wentao added.

China aims to import more goods from Vietnam to reach more balanced trade ties, Wang Wentao affirmed.

He proposed the two nations enhance the cooperation in facilitating investments in green growth, new energy, digital economy, supply chain, and infrastructure.

For his part, Dung said Vietnam would support Chinese businesses to invest in the country for win-win outcomes, especially in sectors of innovation, renewable energy, smart urban areas, electronics, technology and supporting industry. He urged the Chinese side to help Vietnam establish free-trade zones, duty-free zones and open economic zones.

As of end-March 2024, mainland China was the sixth-biggest foreign investor in Vietnam with 4,418 valid projects and a total registered capital of $27.6 billion. In 2023, mainland China’s investment in the Southeast Asian country rose 80% to $4.5 billion, the fourth-highest figure, only behind Singapore, South Korea, and Hong Kong, Dung added.

High-speed railway

Also within the China visit, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung worked with the railway regulator of China to learn high-speed railway models. China is now home to the world’s biggest high-speed railway network, covering 50,000 kilometers with a speed of 250-350 kilometers per hour.

Dung and his delegation learned about the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway route. The 1,300-kilometer route has an investment of $33 billion and a speed of 350 kilometers per hour, serving 600 million passengers a year. Construction of the project took place from 2008-2011.

Dung also had a working session with CRRC, the state-owned train and railway developer of China, to learn about railway networks development, production of locomotives, workforce growth, and high-speed railway technology.

At the moment, Vietnam is mulling over building a high-speed railway across the country. A future trans-Vietnam high-speed railway is expected to contribute one percentage point to the country’s annual economic growth in the 2025-2037 period, according to a report by the Ministry of Transport.

In November 2023, the transport ministry started to collect comments from government agencies on three scenarios for the North-South high-speed railway project.

The Vietnamese government is actively seeking assistance for the project. In March, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc met with Japanese government agencies and asked for their financing. Phoc said Vietnam plans to borrow 30% from foreign sources for its $67-billion North-South high-speed railway project, scheduled for implementation in 2027.

Also in March, Korea National Railway said it is willing to facilitate the trans-Vietnam high-speed railway project by sharing relevant expertise and experience.