Jane Lai

SHENZHEN will establish an economic trade zone in Vietnam, according to an agreement signed at the Wuzhou Guest House yesterday.

According to the agreement, the Viglacera Co., a large Vietnam-owned glass and ceramics corporation, will help Shenzhen enterprises, particularly small and medium-sized ones, obtain land-use permits for land acquisition and start building infrastructure, factories and office buildings inside the economic and trade cooperation zone in Yen Hung District, Quang Ninh Province in Vietnam. The zone is about 125 kilometers from the capital, Hanoi.

With an area of 1.6 million square meters and electronics and clothing manufacturing as the leading industries, the first batch of Shenzhen enterprises is expected to be set up in the zone by 2009.

The establishment of the cooperation zone was the result of several visits to Vietnam by Shenzhen government officials over the past year. The project has the full support of the government, Shenzhen Mayor Xu Zongheng said at yesterday’s signing ceremony.

Ten companies including China National Aviation Holding Co., China Shenzhen International Cooperation and Neptunus had registered a combined Shenzhen-Vietnam Joint Investment Co. with capital of 100 million yuan (US$14.27 million) to invest in the cooperation zone.