Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan left Hanoi on December 4 morning for a four-day official visit to the Republic of Korea (RoK) at the invitation of Speaker of the RoK National Assembly Moon Hee-sang.
Joining the delegation were Chairman of the NA Committee for External Relations Nguyen Van Giau; Secretary General of the NA and Chairman of the NA Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc; Chairman of the NA Committee for Deputy Affairs Tran Van Tuy; Chairwoman of the NA Committee for Justice Le Thi Nga; Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung and Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, among others.
The visit is of significance as it signals the importance Vietnam has attached to the strategic cooperative partnership with the RoK as well as its wish to elevate the relationship to a new height.
Through the visit, Vietnam wants to affirm its support for the RoK’s New Southern Policy and the implementation of the cooperation agreement between the two legislatures, thus developing legislative ties both bilaterally and multilaterally.
Vietnam and the RoK established diplomatic ties on December 22, 1992. They set up their comprehensive strategic partnership in August 2001, and lifted the ties to the level of strategic cooperative partnership in October 2009.
The bilateral political and diplomatic relations are strong, which is reflected through regular high-level visits and meetings.
In 2006, an agreement on cooperation between the two legislatures was signed, an important legal document for both sides to develop their friendship and cooperation.
The nations also established important security-defence cooperation mechanisms, including a security dialogue and defence dialogue at the deputy ministerial level.
The RoK is currently one of Vietnam’s most important economic partners, ranking first in terms of investment, and second in development cooperation, trade and tourism.
Two-way trade jumped from 500 million USD in 1992 to 61.5 billion USD in 2017, of which 14.8 billion USD came from Vietnam’s exports, up 30 percent from the previous year, and 46.7 billion USD from the Southeast Asian country’s imports, a year-on-year increase of 45.3 percent.
The two countries are working to raise the turnover to 100 billion USD by 2020.-VNA
VNA
