Bilateral Trade: China-Vietnam trade to reach $15 bln

Bilateral trade between China and Vietnam is expected to reach 15 billion U.S. dollars by 2010, a target set by leaders of both countries in 2006, if the current growth momentum remains, said Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng on Sunday. China has been the top trading partner of Vietnam for three consecutive years.

In the first eight months this year, trade between the two countries soared to 9.1 billion U.S. dollars, a hefty increase of 46.2 percent year-on-year, Gao said at a Vietnam-China forum on investment and business operation, held in the southern China city of Nanning.

By the end of 2006, China had launched 407 direct investment projects in Vietnam, with a total contractual value of 1.07 billion U.S. dollars. Chinese companies contracted 5.6 billion U.S. dollars worth of construction projects in Vietnam, with a combined turnover of 1.92 billion U.S. dollars, said Gao.

Burma

The Myanmar federation of industry and commerce announced that the country's trade with China amounted to 1.46 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 20.73 percent over 2005.

China is now Myanmar's sixth largest direct investment source country and has invested 475 million U.S dollars in 27 projects in the Southeast Asian country, the federation said.