China and Vietnam yesterday vowed to address border issues and maintain peace and stability in the frontier areas.

The pledge was made during a one-hour meeting between President Hu Jintao and his visiting Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh Triet.

China and Vietnam share a 1,300-km land border; and efforts are being made to complete the demarcation before next year.

China's President Hu Jintao shows the way to Vietnam's President Nguyen Minh Triet (L) during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing May 17, 2007. [Reuters]

Triet said that Vietnam was keen to develop relations between border provinces, so as to create peace, friendship and common development in the area; and increase collaboration in the Beibu Gulf area.

On bilateral relations, Hu put forward five proposals:

exchanges at various levels

enhanced economic, trade and technological cooperation

more personnel exchanges

careful management of border issues

closer coordination and consultation in international and regional affairs.

Hu appreciated Vietnam's support for the one-China policy and China's reunification; and Triet responded by saying that relations with China are a priority in Vietnam's foreign relations.

The two sides yesterday also agreed to step up building "two corridors and one economic belt" along their shared border.

The corridors link Kunming in Southwest China's Yunnan Province and Nanning in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region with Hai Phong in Vietnam.

The Beibu Gulf economic belt which covers China's Guangxi and parts of Vietnam has become a major plank of the neighbors' economic cooperation.

The two countries are also working to set up a 17-square-km trans-border economic zone in the city of Pingxiang in Guangxi and Lang Son province of Vietnam, according to a Xinhua report yesterday.

Bilateral trade reached more than $10 billion last year, a goal originally set by the two countries for 2010.

The two presidents also reached consensus that the two countries should jointly promote the establishment of the China-ASEAN free trade area and the multi-lateral cooperation in the Greater Mekong sub-region.

Xinhua contributed to the story

(China Daily 05/18/2007 page1)