Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue and Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs of the Republic of Korea’s Foreign Ministry Yun Kang-hyeon (Photo: VNA)
Yun is Hanoi to attend the 17th meeting of the Vietnam-RoK Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic and Scientific-Technological Cooperation, which took place a day earlier.
Yun informed Hue of the results of the session and hailed the two countries’ bilateral relations which he described as thriving in all areas, particularly in investment, trade and tourism. Vietnam is expected to become the RoK’s third largest trade partner in 2020 with two-way trade reaching 100 billion USD, he said.
The Korean official said he hopes that the second Deputy Prime Ministers’ Dialogue between the two nations will be held in the central city of Da Nang next year.
Deputy PM Hue, for his part, said the two countries have engaged in multiple exchange mechanisms and they held the Deputy Prime Ministers’ Dialogue for the first time in Seoul in June.
He highly spoke of the significance of the 17th meeting of the Vietnam-RoK Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic and Scientific-Technological Cooperation, saying it provided an opportunity to review what had been achieved in the implementation of commitments by top Vietnamese and Korean leaders in the first Deputy Prime Ministers’ Dialogue.
He also asked the Inter-Government Committee to propose breakthrough solutions to boost the bilateral trade and soon balance the trade as Vietnam has run trade deficit with the RoK.
At the 17th meeting of the committee, Vietnam and the RoK looked back at the first Deputy Ministers’ Dialogue on Economic Cooperation during which the two nations discussed and reached consensus on initiatives and cooperation contents in the spheres of trade and investment; finance – banking and development cooperation; infrastructure, construction and energy; industry, agriculture, science-technology and information and communications technology; and labor and healthcare.
The two sides outlined cooperation orientations for the coming time, and make preparations for PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to the RoK on the occasion of the ASEAN-RoK Commemorative Summit in November.
Vietnam and the RoK have witnessed robust development in their bilateral ties in the past year. The all-round cooperation has brought benefits, and enhanced mutual understanding and trust between their people.
Last year, the RoK was Vietnam’s third largest trade partner, just after China and the EU. It was also the fourth largest importer and second largest exporter of the Southeast Asian country. Vietnam exported 18.2 billion USD to while importing 47.5 billion USD worth of products from the RoK in 2018./.