Vietnam President to attend Belt and Road Forum in China next week

President Vo Van Thuong will lead a Vietnamese delegation to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, China on October 17-20, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Thursday.

The visit is being made at the invitation of Chinese Party Chief and President Xi Jinping, the Vietnamese foreign ministry added.

This will be Vietnam’s third participation in the event, indicating the continuous and regular cooperation between the two countries. It will also be Vo Van Thuong’s first China visit as the President of Vietnam.

2023 is the 15th anniversary of Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic partnership and the 10-year ceremony of China-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The event, under the theme “High-quality Belt and Road Cooperation: Together for Common Development and Prosperity”, is scheduled for October 17-18, the Chinese foreign ministry stated.

Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of the forum and deliver a keynote speech, and hold a welcoming banquet and bilateral events for guests attending the forum, it added.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), adopted in 2013, has Vietnam as a participant in the China-Indochina Peninsula economic corridor. In November 2017, the Vietnamese and Chinese governments signed a memorandum of understanding on linking the multilateral BRI with the bilateral “Two Corridors, One Belt” strategy. The two countries are negotiating details for its implementation.

Prior to the visit of Vo Van Thuong, Vietnam has made many high-level visits to China. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has visited China twice this year, including one to attend the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC) of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Tianjin city on June 25-28, and one to attend the 20th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) on September 16-19 in Nanning city.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made a “very successful” visit to China in October 2022 at the invitation of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as described by Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son.

China is Vietnam’s biggest trade partner. In the first nine months of 2023, two-way trade between Vietnam and China reached $121.3 billion, outpacing the second and third placed U.S. and South Korea with $81.1 billion and $56.3 billion, respectively, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

China is also a major source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam with $26.04 billion in 4,023 valid projects as of September 20, 2023, the Ministry of Planning and Investment reported. The figure puts mainland China sixth in the ranking, behind South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.