The Embassy of the Republic of Korea (RoK) and the RoK Foundation hosted a reception on the occasion of the 20 th anniversary of the Vietnam-RoK diplomatic ties in Hanoi on December 21.

Addressing the function, RoK Ambassador to Vietnam Ha Chan Ho expresses his pleasure at the constant development of the multifaceted cooperation between the two countries over the past 20 years.

Bilateral trade reached 18.6 billion USD in 2011 and is expected to exceed 20 billion USD this year, the ambassador noted, adding that people-to-people and cultural exchanges have been enhanced.

For his part, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said the Vietnam-Rok Friendship Year 2012 has been a success with abundant and meaningful activities, which help enhance mutual understanding and contribute to promoting the two countries’ bilateral relations, especially in politics, economics, culture and people-to-people exchanges.

Both host and guest expressed their belief that the Vietnam-RoK relationship will further develop.

The two sides will continue to push up their strategic cooperative partnership in the coming time, contributing to each country’s prosperity, and to peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world.-VNA