2015年CRI Observers: Economic Co-op Focus of Xi's Vietnam Trip（在线收听）

China has been Vietnam's largest trading partner of Vietnam for the past 11 years.

Last year, Vietnam became China's second largest trading partner inside ASEAN.

A lot of the trade between the two sides is border-trade.

Nguyen Van Binh is the vice chair of the People's Committee in the Vietnamese province of Lang Son, which borders Guangxi.

He says they're hoping Xi Jinping's upcoming visit might spur new opportunities.

"We hope President Xi's visit to Vietnam this time can bring Lang Son some new chances as well as enhance bilateral cooperation in imports and exports and deepen the friendship between Lang Son and Guang Xi."

The province of Lang Son is considered a hub connecting trade among ASEAN countries moving goods into China.

Vietnam's Deputy Transport Minister Nguyen Hong Truong says trade through the area is going to be improved through the infrastructure projects currently being worked on.

"In the transport sector, there're many projects between Vietnam and China using Official Development Assistance from China such as the improvement of the railway signal system from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and from Hanoi to Lao Cai. And now we are developing the urban railway Cat Linh-Ha Dong which is the first urban railway using ODA from China. And this urban railway will be operated from 2016."

Apart from increased economic cooperation, its expected Xi Jinping's time in Vietnam is also going to include plans to promote cultural exchanges, particularly in the academic world.

Do Tien Sam, former head of Chinese studies with Vietnam's Academy of Social Sciences, says a focus on youth is expected.

"Because young people are the masters of the future for the two countries, we should have activities regularly, expand our target audience, and the scale of these activates to make it a platform for them to communicate with each other."

President Xi Jinping is due to spend two days in Vietnam before heading to Singapore.

For CRI, I am Yu Yang.