China and Vietnam are seeing their bilateral trade grow significantly as borders cities in the two countries keep strengthening cooperation facilitating the flows of goods and personnel.
In the first seven months this year, the bilateral trade between the two countries reached 145 billion U.S. dollars, marking a significant year-over-year growth of over 20 percent.
The trade between border cities has been a crucial driver in promoting the economic and trade ties between China and Vietnam.
With nine land ports bordering Vietnam, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China has been a leader in promoting bilateral trade.
With valid certificates, residents living in Dongxing and the neighboring Mong Cai in Vietnam can walk freely into each other's countries through a 120-meter bridge and return home before nightfall. The facilitated personnel exchange helps boost the trade in the border cities.
"I come to Dongxing every day," said a Vietnamese fruit vendor.
"When sales are at their peak, about 500 kilograms can be sold every day were sold," said another Vietnamese fruit vendor selling durian.
The commercial streets in Dongxing are a prime example of the close trade ties between Guangxi and Vietnam, where consumers are able to pick their favorites from a wide assortment of snacks, condiments, and handicrafts made in the Southeast Asian country.
"I bought them for my relatives and friends," said a consumer.
As a well-known brand of Vietnam, the country's coffee industry has a noticeable presence in Dongxing.
Tourists often take a break at local coffee shops and taste a cup from Vietnam. "My coffee shop used to cover just dozens of square meters. Now it is as extensive as over 2,000 square meters. The shop is packed with consumers every day. Each time we enlarged the shop, we found it was not big enough later, so, we enlarge the shop every year," said a Vietnamese-style coffee shop owner in Dongxing.
The trade ties between Dongxing and Mong Cai has been strengthening over the recent years. The two cities will pilot the China-Vietnam cross-border economic cooperation zone to further facilitate the flow of goods and services and drive exchanges in trade, tourism, as well as culture, according to local authorities in Dongxing.
China, Vietnam see trade grow as border cities strengthening exchanges
