East China's Shanghai Pudong International Airport welcomed its first batch of visitors from Greece, one of the four latest countries to benefit from China's visa-free policy on Tuesday.
According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from October 15, 2024 to December 31, 2025, ordinary passport holders from Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Slovenia do not need a visa to enter China for business, tourism, family visit and transit purposes for up to 15 days.
"I'm traveling to Chongqing. I've headed from Manchester, from the [airport] there. I got this information from the website," said a Greek tourist.
From January to July this year, the number of foreigners passing through Shanghai ports reached 2.368 million, a 2.6-fold increase compared with the same period last year. With the rise in the number of international visitors, local authorities in Shanghai have established a one-stop comprehensive service center to provide better services, including currency exchange, mobile payments, and inbound travel guidelines.
"We'll monitor flight information closely and strengthen our cooperation with airlines and ports to enhance clearance efficiency and attract more international visitors to China for business cooperation, tourism and sightseeing," said Jiang Yichen, deputy director of the Border Inspection Office at the Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection.
Shanghai welcomes first batch of Greek tourists under new visa-free policy
China will build on trade agreements and industrial parks to enhance economic and trade cooperation with Vietnam, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.
Spokesman He Yadong emphasized at a press conference that China is Vietnam's largest trade partner, while Vietnam is China's largest trade partner among the ASEAN nations. The annual trade volume between the two sides has exceeded 200 billion U.S. dollars for three consecutive years.
From January to September 2024, trade volume between the two countries reached 190.38 billion U.S. dollars, up 17.6 percent year on year.
Vietnam is an important overseas investment destination for China. In the first eight months, direct investment by Chinese enterprises in Vietnam totaled 1.97 billion U.S. dollars, maintaining rapid growth.
Efforts will be made to both explore and pilot the establishment of cross-border economic cooperation zones, expanding cooperation in emerging fields such as information technology, new energy and digital economy, the spokesperson said.
Enterprises from the two countries will be supported to make full use of platforms like the China International Import Expo, the China Import and Export Fair and the China-ASEAN Expo to expand trade of agricultural and aquatic products as well as manufactured industrial products, He said.
Measures will also be taken to deepen cooperation related to supply chains and regional economic integration, He added.
"[We] support both sides in enhancing cooperation in industrial parks and between regions, promoting the integrated development of industries, deepening mutual integration of supply and demand, and building stable and smooth cross-border industrial and supply chains. We also support the entrepreneurs of the two countries in making full use of multilateral and bilateral economic and trade cooperation agreements and policy dividends such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0, in order to make a greater contribution to regional development and prosperity," he said.
China to improve economic, trade cooperation with Vietnam: commerce ministry
