The two-way trade of China and Vietnam will exceed 5 billion US dollars this year, local newspaper Youth on Wednesday quoted Hu Chusheng, director of the China Foreign Trade Center, as saying in Hanoi.

The forecast is based on the increasing bilateral trade turnover between the two countries, which stood at more than 3 billion dollars in the half of this year, said the director, who has paid a working visit to Vietnam.

The two-way trade of China and Vietnam will climb further due to the continued implementation of the Early Harvest Program (EHP),

part of an agreement on comprehensive economic cooperation between China and the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Under the EHP, Vietnam will have to eliminate tariffs on 88 items imported from China by 2008, while China is to offer tariff exemptions to 206 Vietnamese items by 2006.

China now ranks the first among exporters of goods to Vietnam and the third among importers of the country. It mainly exports petroleum products, machinery, medicines and materials for agricultural and apparel production to Vietnam, and imports crude oil, rubber, fruits, vegetables, seafood and materials for medicine production from the country.

The bilateral trade turnover, which reached 4.6 billion US dollars in 2003, has been targeted at 10 billion dollars in 2010.

Source: Xinhua