Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (Source: VNA)

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is due to attend the ASEAN-China Expo (CAEXPO) and the ninth ASEAN-China Business and Investment Summit in Nanning , the capital of China 's Autonomous Region Guangxi Zhuang, from September 20-21.

PM Dung’s visit will take place as the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and China are developing rapidly in all fields, bringing practical benefits for both sides.

The two countries, to date, have signed many agreements at governmental level as well as cooperative documents, creating a legal foundation for their long-term cooperation.

Exchanges of delegations at central and grassroots levels have also increased, with over 100 delegations of both sides visiting each year.

In 2011, two-way trade between Vietnam and China totalled 35.7 billion USD, up 30.7 percent from the year before. In the first seven months of this year, the figure stood at nearly 23 billion USD, a year on year increase of 20 percent. The two countries have targeted raising bilateral trade to 60 billion USD by 2015.

By July this year, China had invested in 857 projects, worth 4.5 billion USD in Vietnam, ranking 14th out of the 96 countries and territories investing in the country.

As a top level forum, the ASEAN-China Business and Investment Summit aims to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two sides, promote an ASEAN-China free trade area and deepen economic and trade ties within the region.

CAEXPO is held annually by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the ten ASEAN countries and ASEAN’s Secretariat. The expo is an important way of boosting friendship, trade and cooperation between the ten member bloc and China.

As one of China ’s ten foremost exhibitions, CAEXPO has become a major event for Chinese businesses, ASEAN member states and countries outsides. Now in its eighth year, the expo has made over 10 billion USD in transaction value and has witnessed contracts worth over 50 billion USD being signed. Amongst the ASEAN countries at this year’s expo, Vietnam has the largest number of stands, with 200 covering an area of 3,500 sq.m.