An official with Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine ( GAQSIQ) said here Wednesday that China will enhance certification and accreditation cooperation with Vietnam to facilitate trade between the two countries.

The in-depth communication and cooperation of certification and accreditation between China and Vietnam has great significance for the trade development between the two countries, said Sun Dawei, Deputy Director of GAQSIQ in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Wednesday. Sun is in Hanoi for China-Vietnam Certification and Accreditation Forum.

The cooperation will help promote product safety and quality in the two countries, said Sun.

More importantly, the establishment of mutual trust to reach a wider range of mutual recognition will reduce the cost of testing and certificating each other's products, he said.

China and Vietnam started certification and accreditation cooperation with motorbikes, said Sun. In 2002, the GAQSIQ and Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) signed a cooperation memorandum which Vietnam admits China's compulsory certification outcome in the field of motorbikes, he said.

The agreement was the first that China signed with a foreign government agency in the field of compulsory certification, according to the deputy head of the China's quality watchdog.

China and Vietnam have also conducted a number of visits and experience exchanges in recent years. They support each other in international and regional organizations of certification and accreditation as well, said Sun.

Sun said that the cooperative relationship in certification and accreditation between the two countries is good but growth in bilateral trade requires better coordination.

Chinese official statistics showed that China has maintained Vietnam's largest trade partner for the past five years. Last year, despite the global financial crisis, the two-way trade increased by 8.2 percent year-on-year to about 21 billion U.S dollars. The two countries vow to increase bilateral trade to 25 billion U.S dollars this year.

Vietnam and China need to find new cooperation areas based on the existing cooperation foundation, Sun said.

The two sides are discussing and establishing comprehensive and diverse cooperation between GAQSIQ and MOST in the field of standards, metrology, certification, import and export product inspection in the future, he said.

"I believe the cooperation between China and Vietnam will be fruitful in the new phase", Sun said. It will facilitate the economic cooperation between the two countries and promote the development of bilateral trade.

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