On November 19, 2022, the Opening Ceremony of the 6th China-South Asia Expo and the 26th Kunming Import and Export Fair (2022) took place at Kunming Dian-chi International Convention & Exhibition Center, China. At the invitation of Mr. Vuong Du Ba, Governor of Yunnan Province (China), Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai attended the Opening Ceremony online from the Hanoi bridge point.
The Opening Ceremony of the 6th China - South Asia Fair and the 26th Kunming Import and Export Fair (2022) were participated by Mr. Vuong Xuan Hien, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; Mr. Wang Ning, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee of Yunnan Province (China), Mr. Li Fei, Assistant to the Minister of Commerce of China and Government Leaders of Sri Lanka, Laos, and Cambodia, together with Mr. with the leaders of the Ministries of Trade of Pakistan, Myanmar, and Thailand.

After more than 2 years of being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, this is the first time that the Fair is held in the form of both face-to-face and online. Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai's attendance at the opening ceremony showed the respect for China in general and Yunnan province in particular for the comprehensive development of economic and trade cooperation with Vietnam.

Together with the strong growth momentum of Vietnam-China economic and trade cooperation and the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Yunnan province (China), the fair is considered as an opportunity to strengthen bilateral trade and economic relations. Furthermore, the fair is also a place for enterprises to meet, exchange as well as promote trade, economic and investment cooperation that is expected by the business community.

On November 20, 2022, in the framework of the Fair, the GMS Economic Corridor Governors Forum took place. The forum is held in the context that GMS member countries are entering their 30th year of cooperation and development. The maintenance of GMS cooperation mechanisms and contents for many years shows the commitment of member countries to the development of GMS cooperation and also creates a premise for the cooperation and development of the GMS member countries in the future.

Speaking at the Forum from Hanoi bridge point, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai congratulated the success of the Greater Mekong Subregion Program over the past 30 years and highly appreciated the efforts of the Yunnan Provincial Government in the resumption of the “GMS Economic Corridor Governors Forum” after a two-year hiatus in order to implement the orientations set forth in the GMS-2030 Strategic Framework approved by the GMS Senior Leaders at the 7th GMS Summit taking place in September 2021.

According to the Deputy Minister, Vietnam, China, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia are all countries with close geographical positions, long-standing friendly relations and complementarity and high cohesion in economic and trade cooperation. The trade scale between Vietnam and the markets of China, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia in 2021 is 196.9 billion USD, up 26% over the same period in 2021, accounting for 30 % of total foreign trade turnover of Vietnam with the world. Particularly in the first 10 months of 2022, despite being affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, Vietnam's trade with 5 partners still reached 176.1 billion USD, up 11% over the same period in 2021.

“More than ever, GMS member countries must work closely to find solutions to support businesses of both sides, create a more open legal framework, and promote and improve customs clearance efficiency at border gates. In which, the role of focal localities in GMS cooperation is very important. Localities need to strengthen substantive cooperation, especially in upgrading infrastructure for production and trade in border areas, cooperation on trade facilitation, business support activities, tourism cooperation and the promotion of high-quality investment as the initial goal set forth by the member countries.”, the Deputy Minister emphasized.

Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai believed that with the efforts and goodwill to cooperate with member countries and relevant localities in the GMS, the cooperation will promote efficiency and bring practical benefits to people and business community, thereby contributing to the development of the Greater Mekong sub-region. He affirmed that the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam will continue to accompany GMS government agencies as well as relevant localities in GMS cooperation to be able to effectively implement the common awareness achieved by high-level leaders of GMS member countries./.