Vietnam attaches importance to developing its strategic cooperative partnership with the Republic of Korea for the benefits and prosperity of each country, said the Party chief and the Prime Minister as they met with the RoK top legislator Kim Hyong-O in Hanoi on Nov. 16.

Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh said at his reception of Kim that he was pleased with recent progress in Vietnam-RoK friendship and cooperation.

He spoke highly of the role of the two parliaments, especially in building legal frameworks to ensure the development of each nation as well as of the bilateral relationship.

The Party leader urged the two legislatures to increase exchanges and the sharing of experiences and information so as to deepen friendly and cooperative relations between Vietnam and the RoK.

For his part, Kim affirmed that the RoK will do its utmost to develop its comprehensive cooperative partnership with Vietnam in a more practical and effective manner in the interests of both peoples.

The Speaker congratulated Vietnam on its socio-economic achievements and its growing role in the international arena. He briefed his host on the results of earlier talks with NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong and other Vietnamese leaders.

Kim said he believed that the Vietnamese people will be able to weather the difficulties caused by natural disasters and the world economic crisis to successfully fulfil the goal of a rich people, a strong country, and an equal, democratic, civilised society, transforming Vietnam into an industrialised nation by 2020.

Welcoming the RoK National Assembly Speaker the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said he regarded the Vietnam visit by the Speaker, which took place right after another visit by President Lee Myung-bak, as a reaffirmation of the fine relations between the two countries in the spirit of a strategic cooperative partnership.

The PM stated that economic cooperation between Vietnam and the RoK is very good at present and that the RoK has become one of Vietnam ’s leading cooperative partners.

Aside from economic cooperation, the PM suggested the RoK boost the teaching of the Korean language to Vietnamese workers to create opportunities for more of them to work in the RoK or in Korean enterprises in Vietnam .

He also suggested that the two countries enhance cooperation in security and national defence and that the RoK contribute more official development assistance (ODA) to key projects in Vietnam .

Kim Hyong-O expressed desire that Vietnam serve as an active bridge for the RoK to boost economic cooperation with ASEAN.

Host and guest were of the same view that the two countries share many similarities in culture and that the large number of Vietnamese living in the RoK, and vice versa, necessitates strengthening cultural exchanges to boost cooperation and mutual understanding.

Also on November 16, RoK National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-O met with President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Huynh Dam./.