HANOI 鈥 Vietnam and China signed 10 agreements ranging from agriculture cooperation to cross-border QR code payments on Sunday, during Chinese Premier Li Qiang鈥檚 three-day visit to Hanoi.
China is Vietnam鈥檚 largest trading partner and a vital source of imports for its manufacturing sector, with bilateral trade jumping 21% for the first three quarters from the same period last year to $148 billion.
The signing ceremony followed Li鈥檚 meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Li and Vietnam鈥檚 Communist Party chief, President To Lam, agreed on Saturday to boost economic ties, farm produce cooperation.
Vietnam and China also signed a document on updating progress on cross-border railway links related to site survey.
The two Asian neighbors have repeatedly showed interest in boosting rail links but have not announced concrete plans or the estimated costs to upgrade connections.
The main route relies on tracks connecting Kunming in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan to Hanoi and the Vietnamese port city of Haiphong. That railway was built by the French during their colonization of Vietnam more than a century ago and is still in use in Vietnam. China has replaced its route with high-speed connections.
On Saturday, the National Payment Corp of Vietnam and China鈥檚 UnionPay International signed an agreement to deploy cross-border payment between the two countries. 鈥 Reuters
