China and Vietnam on Wednesday agreed to further strengthen the docking of development strategies and speed up cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the "Two Corridors and One Economic Circle" plan. 

The agreement was reached at the 14th Meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vietnamese Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh co-chaired the meeting. 

Proposed by China in 2013, the BRI comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. 

The "Two Corridors and One Economic Circle" plan is an initiative to boost regional economic cooperation between China and Vietnam. It involves a number of areas in southern and southwestern China and northern Vietnam.

Wang said China and Vietnam should carry on their special friendship, consolidate solidarity and mutual trust, and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, so as to serve the development of the two countries and make greater contributions to peace, stability and prosperity in the region. 

The two countries should upgrade economic and trade cooperation and strengthen cooperation in fields such as climate change, green development, photovoltaics and clean energy, he suggested. 

Minh said the two countries are socialist brothers and friendly neighbors, adding that they are also comprehensive strategic cooperative partners. Vietnam regards its relations with China as a top priority in its foreign policy, he said. 

Vietnam stands ready to enhance high-level exchanges between the two countries, consolidate their strategic mutual trust and promote bilateral cooperation in various fields, he said. 

Wang called on the two sides to be committed to the path of socialism and the development of China-Vietnam friendship, safeguard the common strategic interests of the two countries, and jointly address regional and global challenges.

The two sides agreed to properly handle sensitive issues at sea and strive for more tangible outcomes in maritime cooperation. 

The two countries also agreed to strengthen solidarity and coordination in regional and international affairs and uphold true multilateralism. 

The two sides signed an agreement on economic and technological cooperation as well as documents on agricultural, marine environmental and maritime cooperation.

(Cover: The 14th Meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation is held in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, July 13, 2022. /Chinese Foreign Ministry)