(VOV) - Deputy Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has highlighted the Kunming Iron & Steel Group Co.Ltd (KISC)’s investment cooperation with Vietnam as an important contribution to stimulating local socio-economic development and deepening the time-honored friendship between Vietnam and China. On Friday, Deputy PM Minh, accompanied by Minister of Planning and Investment, Pham Quang Vinh, and the Minster of Industry and Trade, Vu Huy Hoang, visited the Kunming Iron & Steel Group Co.Ltd (KISC) and the China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd (CSG) as part of the Chinese trip by Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong and his entourage.

The Vietnam-China mineral metallurgy project has a capacity of 500,000 tonnes/ year and was built by KISC, the Vietnam Steel Corporation and the Lao Cai Mineral Company, and has begun operations. Deputy PM Minh suggested the Kunming steel group apply most advanced technologies to effectively utilize iron ore resources in northern Lao Cai province and pay heed to environmental protection, adding that the Vietnamese Government would facilitate the group’s expanded investment in Vietnam. Meeting with the Board of Directors of the Yunnan Power Grid Company under China’s Southern Power Grid Co., Deputy PM Minh appreciated the company’s efforts to rise from a power supplier for Vietnam in 2014, to become a power plant construction and infrastructure investor in the Southeast Asian nation, as evidenced by the Seo Chong Ho hydropower plant project in Sa Pa, and the Vinh Tan 2 thermal power project in Binh Thuan province. Minh also reiterated the Vietnamese Government’s willingness to create good conditions for Chinese investors to do business in Vietnam.