Vietnam, RoK seek to boost strategic partnership

Delegates at the first discussion session at the event (Photo: VNA)

Addressing the event, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Vu said that this is the first event to open a series of activities to mark the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam-RoK diplomatic relations, aiming to bolster bilateral investment partnership.

He highlighted that the Vietnam-RoK relationship is in a thriving period, with the RoK being an important partner of Vietnam in many areas, and Vietnam being an important pillar of the RoK’s New Southern Policy Plus.

Currently, the RoK is the biggest investor in Vietnam with 9,223 underway projects worth 74.7 billion USD. It is Vietnam’s second largest labour export market and the third largest trade partner, with two-way trade reaching 78 billion USD in 2021, he noted.

According to Vu, localities of the two countries have signed about 80 memoranda of understanding across various areas including trade, investment, people-to-people exchange, agriculture, education-training, and labour.

The RoK has provided Vietnam with nearly 1.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, reflecting the close friendship between the two nations, he said.

He expressed belief that the bilateral partnership will further thrive towards the target of 100 billion USD in 2023 and 150 billion USD in 2030.

For his part, Secretary of the Party Committee of Thanh Hoa province Do Trong Hung said that the RoK is an important partner of Thanh Hoa, stressing that the locality hopes to further strengthen the partnership, contributing to completing the province’s socio-economic goals.

Speaking at the event, RoK Ambassador to Vietnam Park Noh-wan said that he hopes the event will be the opening for a new development period of the strategic partnership between the two countries as well as between the RoK and Thanh Hoa, northern and northern central localities of Vietnam.

He diplomat said that 2022 is a meaningful year for both sides when they will celebrate their 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

He said he hopes through the event, businesses of both sides will strengthen their investment partnerships in all fields, including high technology, human resources development, support industries and logistics, thus contributing to promoting the growth of Vietnam.

Within the event’s framework, participants discussed measures to boost bilateral trade and investment partnership for the economic recovery and development in both sides, as well as priorities of Korean firms and their interest in the energy sector in Vietnam./.

VNA