HANOI, Feb 19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Vietnam's parliament on Wednesday approved plans for an $8 billion rail link from its largest northern port city to the border with China, boosting links between the two communist-ruled countries and making trade easier.

Construction of the railway was backed in a vote by 95 percent of parliamentarians in the country's rubber-stamp National Assembly, an AFP journalist in the chamber said.

The new rail line will run through some of Vietnam's key manufacturing hubs, home to Samsung, Foxconn, Pegatron and other global giants, many of whom rely on a regular flow of components from China.

The route will stretch 390 kilometres (around 240 miles) from the port city of Hai Phong to the mountainous city of Lao Cai, which borders China's Yunnan province, and will also run through the capital Hanoi.

China will provide some funding through loans for the project, which is expected to cost more than $8 billion.

It is one of two railway lines to China that Vietnam plans as part of its "Two Corridors, One Belt" initiative, which connects to Beijing's Belt and Road global infrastructure programme.