State President kicks off visit to China
VNGOP – State President Nguyễn Minh Triết, his spouse and a senior Vietnamese delegation left in the morning of May 15 for China at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao. The State President's first visit to China, which will last on May 18, is a continuation of traditional meetings between the Vietnamese and Chinese leaders. It helps to reconfirm the Vietnamese Communist Party and State's diplomatic policy to multilateralize and diversify international relations under the motto "Vietnam wants to be a good friend and reliable partner of all countries in the world" as well as to deepen her relationship with traditional friends, including China.
Photo: VNGOP
The visit will be an opportunity for the leaders of the two countries to put forward orientations and solutions to speed up programs and plans on economic and trade cooperation; to realize the project "Two corridors, one economic belt"; and expand the cooperation in education, culture, science and technique, and physical culture.
State President Nguyễn Minh Triết is accompanied by Deputy PM, Foreign Minister Phạm Gia Khiêm, leaders of the Presidential Office, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and some other ministries. There are about 90 businesses who want to seek for chances to cooperate with Chinese partners.
In Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, where his visit started, President Nguyễn Minh Triết paid a visit to the Yunnan Power Grid Company, an important partner of the Vietnam Electricity Corporation. The President highly praised the Yunnan Power Grid Company for installing and operating four 110-200kV electric lines as a part of the agreement made by the leaders of the two countries that China will sell electricity to six northern provinces in Vietnam.
The President affirmed that the cooperation between the power companies of the two countries is a lively sign of the good neighborhood for co-development. However, Yunnan and Vietnam's localities can promote their cooperation in various fields, especially trade, investment, education and tourism, the President suggested.
In the evening of May 15, President Nguyễn Minh Triết received Mr. Bai Anpei, Secretary of the Yunnan Party Committee. The President asked the Yunnan authority to further share its experience and cooperation with Vietnam's ministries, sectors and the four provinces having the common borderline (Lào Cai, Hà Giang, Điện Biên and Lai Châu). Accordingly, Yunnan and these four provinces should finish the demarcation and border marker planting before 2008. President Nguyễn Minh Triết also suggested the Yunnan authority to help the countries in the Mekong subregion implement cooperation programs to exploit and use the Mekong River in a sustainable way.
Before leaving Yunnan in the afternoon of May 16 for Beijing, President Nguyễn Minh Triết will attend the China-Vietnam Business Forum held in Kunming.
By Xuân Hồng
