Ambassador Pham Thanh Binh said that trade continues to be a bright spot in Vietnam-China relations in the first half of 2026. The Embassy has promoted economic diplomacy, supported localities and coordinated to promote economic and trade cooperation in foreign affairs activities, especially high-level delegation exchanges.
According to the Ambassador, in the coming period, economic diplomacy needs to shift from "quantity" to "quality", improving the effectiveness of implementation, especially concretizing bilateral agreements. This requires some important changes, including shifting from purely trade promotion to supporting new growth drivers, focusing on science and technology, digital economy, semiconductors and innovation; strengthening the connection of technology ecosystems, research and development, and training high-quality human resources.
In an interview, the Vietnamese Ambassador to China informed: Vietnam's agricultural exports in the first half of 2026 recorded positive growth. As of April 2026, Vietnam's agricultural and aquatic exports to China reached 3.6 billion USD, an increase of 22.4%, accounting for 25.7% of Vietnam's total agricultural and aquatic export turnover to the world. In which, vegetable and fruit exports reached 415.8 million USD, an increase of 31.4%.
Emphasizing that China continues to be a large market for Vietnamese agricultural products, Ambassador Pham Thanh Binh commented: "The fact that the two sides strengthen coordination to open markets and sign protocols related to the export of agricultural products has created favorable conditions and contributed to promoting more stable agricultural trade development.
According to the Ambassador, in the coming time, the Embassy will implement specific tasks to promote the export of high-quality agricultural products to the Chinese market, including supporting the connection of Vietnamese agricultural export enterprises with distribution systems, e-commerce platforms, logistics centers and large import enterprises of China; supporting enterprises to expand exports to potential markets with high demand for tropical agricultural products such as northern and northwestern China.
In particular, from June 2026, the Embassy will officially be strengthened with 1 Agricultural Counselor to promote agricultural cooperation, connect policies, and better support Vietnamese businesses exporting agricultural products to the Chinese market" - the Ambassador revealed.
Ambassador Pham Thanh Binh assessed that the growth potential of Vietnamese agricultural products in the Chinese market is still very large. Over the past time, China has continuously improved its policy and standard system to ensure the quality of imported goods, setting higher requirements for quality standards, traceability, and food safety for agricultural products.
Therefore, the Ambassador pointed out that, in order to better exploit the potential of the Chinese market, Vietnamese businesses and localities need to focus on improving product quality, strictly controlling production, processing, packaging and traceability chains. In particular, fully meeting technical standards and food safety; strengthening deep processing to help increase product value, reduce seasonal pressure and minimize post-harvest losses.
In addition, improve packaging and product designs to keep up with consumer tastes, because the Chinese market increasingly favors eye-catching products, modern packaging; develop cold storage systems, modern logistics. Next is to better take advantage of opportunities from RCEP, ACFTA 3.0 to reduce costs, strengthen supply chain connections and improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products.
