Lao Cai - Center of economic and trade connection

The event was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, leaders of several central ministries and agencies; leaders of provinces in the Northern Midlands and Mountains region; representatives of embassies, commercial counselors of several countries, international organizations, and major domestic and foreign investors.

This is an activity to effectively implement Decision 1620/QD-TTg dated December 20, 2024 of the Prime Minister on building Lao Cai into a center for economic trade connection between Vietnam and ASEAN countries with the Southwest region of China.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and delegates visited the exhibition space of products of Lao Cai province.

Over the past time, with the initiative, determination, solidarity, daring to think, daring to do in implementing the set goals, Lao Cai has been striving to develop, becoming a typical bright spot of the Northern Midlands and Mountains region, becoming a growth pole, a connecting center of the region and the whole country, confidently entering the era of striving with the nation.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr. Trinh Xuan Truong, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee emphasized: The 2025 Meeting event is of great significance in promoting the image and investment and business environment of Lao Cai province and this is also an opportunity for Lao Cai provincial leaders to meet directly with ambassadors, international organizations and enterprises to enhance understanding, connect deeply, and contribute to promoting investment and trade cooperation. With the motto "Businesses prosper, Lao Cai develops", Lao Cai province always opens its doors to welcome investors, and at the same time commits to accompany, consider the success of enterprises as its own success, create the most favorable conditions to turn investors' ideas and the province's development goals into reality.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son emphasized: This series of events Meeting 2025 is an opportunity for the Government, localities and enterprises of Vietnam, China and ASEAN to share visions, ideas and cooperation plans for mutual development; seek opportunities and partners to expand investment and business relations.

This is also an opportunity for Lao Cai province to introduce and promote the locality as an attractive destination for Chinese, ASEAN and international enterprises. The Vietnamese government hopes to attract more Chinese, ASEAN and international enterprises to the potential land of Lao Cai.

The event will contribute to deepening the Vietnam-China Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership and the vision of building a Vietnam-China Community of Shared Future. Strengthening and developing friendly and cooperative relations with China is a top priority in Vietnam's foreign policy.

The Deputy Prime Minister asked the delegates to focus on frank discussions on potential, opportunities, challenges, identify “bottlenecks” and “bottlenecks” that need to be removed; propose feasible initiatives and solutions for implementation. The spirit is to cooperate, win together, develop together, exploit the maximum potential for truly substantive cooperation and measurable results. Ministries, branches, Lao Cai province and Vietnamese localities seriously absorb opinions and proposals and promptly respond; after the event, there will be specific plans and programs for implementation.

The conference focused on building Lao Cai into a trade connection center between Vietnam, ASEAN and the Southwest region of China. In addition, there were thematic discussions on linking provinces in the railway economic corridor and opportunities for businesses. This is a very practical topic in the context of Vietnam promoting the development of logistics systems and infrastructure connections to increase competitiveness in the regional supply chain. Here, businesses and investors exchanged, shared experiences, new thinking and proposed solutions and recommendations to promote socio-economic development of the region in general and Lao Cai province in particular.

Lao Cai province is located in the center of the Northern Midlands and Mountains region of Vietnam, possessing all the "unique" favorable conditions to develop into an important economic and trade connection center between Vietnam and ASEAN countries with the Southwest region of China.

In recent times, the Vietnamese Government has had many policies to provide maximum support to Lao Cai province in exploiting its potential and advantages. The plan to develop Lao Cai into a center for economic trade connection between Vietnam and ASEAN countries with the Southwest region of China was issued in December 2024.

Nguyen Hai - Huu Truong