Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh called onborder localities of Vietnam and China to continually implement reachedagreements on border trade and boost tourism cooperation.

He made that statement during the seventh conference of the jointworking committee between China’s China’s Guangxi Zhuang AutonomousRegion and Vietnam’s northern border provinces of Lang Son, Cao Bang, HaGiang, and Quang Ninh on April 25 in Ha Giang.

He also called on the localities to work closely together in simplifyingcustoms clearance procedures at border gates, thus contributing tosocio-economic development and improving local living conditions.

Minh expressed his hope that after the conference, the localitieswill further their cooperation and exchange activities to promote mutualunderstanding and friendship among their people.

The four Vietnamese localities share a nearly-700-km land border with the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Cooperation between the Vietnamese provinces and the Guangxi ZhuangAutonomous Region has grown robustly across sectors, according to ZhangXiao Qin, Head of the Chinese delegation to the conference.

The region will press ahead with cooperative programmes with the fourVietnamese localities for the shared borderline of peace, stability,cooperation and development, he added.

After theconference, several cooperation documents were signed, including thebuilding of Hoanh Mo-Dong Zhong border gate and the development of aneconomic border zone, between Quang Ninh and Lang Son, respectively,with the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.-VNA