At the talks - Photo: VNA

Pu Chun, for his part, said the MoIT is the first agency a SAMR leader has visited since its establishment in 2018, expressing his willingness and wish to partner with the MoIT and its DMS, especially in food safety inspection and management.

Tran Huu Linh, head of the DMS, suggested the two sides increase the exchange of information about counterfeit goods, particularly food of unknown origin, and soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the MoIT and the SAMR in order to step up their information exchanges.

Statistics by Vietnamese customs show that trade between Vietnam and China reached 175.56 billion USD last year, up 5.47% from 2021, of which Vietnam’s exports were value at 57.7 billion USD, up 3.18% and its imports were 117.8 billion USD, up 6.63%.

Notably, China remained Vietnam’s biggest trade partner, largest exporter and second biggest buyer, after only the US.