Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue hosted a reception for visitingDeputy Minister for Economic Affairs of the Republic of Korea’s ForeignMinistry Yun Kang-hyeon on October 24.
Yun is Hanoito attend the 17th meeting of the Vietnam-RoK Inter-Governmental Committee for Economicand Scientific-Technological Cooperation, which took place a day earlier.
Yun informedHue of the results of thesession and hailed the two countries’ bilateral relations which he described asthriving in all areas, particularly in investment, trade and tourism. Vietnamis expected to become the RoK’s third largest trade partner in 2020 withtwo-way trade reaching 100 billion USD, he said.
The Korean official said he hopes that the second Deputy Prime Ministers’ Dialoguebetween 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 mutiple exchangemechanisms and they held theDeputy Prime Ministers’ Dialogue for the first time in Seoul in June.
He highlyspoke of the significance of the 17th meeting of the Vietnam-RoKInter-Governmental Committee for Economic and Scientific-Technological Cooperation, saying it provided an opportunity to review what had been achieved inthe implementation of commitments by top Vietnamese and Korean leadersin the first Deputy Prime Ministers’ Dialogue.
He also askedthe Inter-Government Committee to propose breakthrough solutions to boost the bilateral trade andsoon balance the trade as Vietnam has run trade deficit with the RoK.
At the 17th meeting of the committee, Vietnamand the RoK looked back at the first Deputy Ministers’ Dialogue on EconomicCooperation during which the two nations discussed and reached consensus oninitiatives and cooperation contents in the spheres of trade and investment;finance – banking and development cooperation; infrastructure, construction andenergy; industry, agriculture, science-technology and information andcommunications technology; and labour and healthcare.
The two sidesoutlined cooperation orientations for the coming time, and make preparationsfor PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to the RoK on the occasion of the ASEAN-RoKCommemorative Summit in November.
Vietnam andthe RoK have witnessed robust development in their bilateral ties in the pastyear. The all-round cooperation has brought benefits, and enhanced mutualunderstanding and trust between their people.
Last year, theRoK was Vietnam’s third largesttrade partner, just after China and the EU. It was also the fourth largestimporter and second largest exporter of the Southeast Asian country. Vietnamexported 18.2 billion USD to while importing 47.5 billion USD worth of productsfrom the RoK in 2018./.
VNA