HEADS TOGETHER

The huge Chinese market is a magnet to other Belt and Road countries

The Shanghai-based Greenland Group started its cooperation with Viet Nam in 2017 when it signed an agricultural import agreement worth $500 million. A year later, on the eve of the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai on November 5-10, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with Zhang Yuliang, Chairman of Greenland Group in Shanghai, with plans to initiate a $43.5-million purchase order.

The first CIIE, which was attended by more than 1,000 companies from 58 countries along the China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-century Maritime Silk Road (Belt and Road), has added momentum to the already rapid growth in trade between China and countries such as Viet Nam.

China has been Viet Nam’s largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years, with the bilateral trade volume estimated at $121 billion in 2017. China’s exports soared 277.8 percent from 2009 to 2016. Meanwhile, Viet Nam has also entered China’s top 10 trading partners, with agricultural products and consumer goods two of the top export items. Among all the imported goods in China, 99 percent of cashew nuts, 60 percent of fish, 50 percent of coffee and 40 percent of rice come from Viet Nam.

Viet Nam’s exports to China are shifting from low-value agricultural and sideline products, primary commodities and mineral resources to high value-added products such as electronic goods and components. According to the General Statistics Office of Viet Nam, Viet Nam’s exports to China reached $43.6 billion in the first nine months of 2018, with electronics and components worth $6 billion, up 28.8 percent year on year. China has become its largest export market for electronics and spare parts.

Wang Bingnan, Vice Minister of Commerce of China, said the CIIE has be-