Hanoi (VNA) – Chairwoman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan on July 13 sent a message of congratulations to Moon Hee-sang on his election as Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea (RoK).

The RoK’s lawmakers approved on July 13 a proposal to elect Moon, a six-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), as the speaker for the second half of the 20th National Assembly's four-year term as parties agreed earlier this week to normalize parliament after a more than 40-day legislative vacuum, reported the Yonhap News Agency.

They also voted in favor of Lee Ju-young of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and Joo Seung-yong of the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party as the two vice speakers.

Vietnam and the RoK officially established diplomatic ties on December 22, 1992. The RoK is currently Vietnam’s largest foreign investor, with over 6,760 valid projects which have total registered capital of more than 59 billion USD.

Vietnam is now the fourth largest trading partner of the RoK while the East Asian country is Vietnam's second-largest. Two-way trade reached 61.5 billion USD in 2017, up 41 percent year on year, including 14.8 billion USD worth of Vietnamese exports, a rise of 30 percent over 2016.

The RoK is one of Vietnam’s biggest official development assistance (ODA) providers. Since 1992, the RoK has offered 2.8 billion USD in ODA to Vietnam to carry out nearly 60 projects, mostly in transport infrastructure, urban development, health care, and water supply and drainage.-VNA