Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) hosted a reception in Hanoi on June 13 for Kim Do-hyun, newly-appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Korea (RoK) to Vietnam (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hosted a reception in Hanoi on June 13 for Kim Do-hyun, newly-appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Korea (RoK) to Vietnam.
PM Phuc voiced his hope that with his experience, the new RoK Ambassador will make many contributions to promoting the strategic partnership between the two countries in a more practical and effective manner.
He lauded the RoK’s role in the success of the summit between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the US, which took place in Singapore on June 12.
Regarding the Vietnam-RoK relations, he said the two countries’ agencies should enhance cooperation in all fields and regularly exchange delegations at all levels, thus laying a foundation to implement bilateral agreements.
The two nations also need to promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges as well as exchanges between sectors in order to facilitate for the successful cooperation in many fields, including tourism, he added.
PM Phuc noted that two-way trade increased by more than 15 percent in the first quarter of 2018. The RoK is currently the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam and the second largest provider of official development assistance (ODA) for the country.
[RoK continues leading foreign investors in Vietnam]
Emphasising the importance of setting the target of 100 billion USD in bilateral trade by 2020, he said the two sides need to take measures to ensure a more balanced trade in the coming time.
Vietnam has been stepping up the equitisation of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in many important sectors, the PM said, expressing his wish that RoK firms will become strategic investors of these SOEs, as well as transfer advanced technology to Vietnamese companies.
For his part, Ambassador Kim said Vietnam holds great potential to become an economic hub in Southeast Asia as the country has emerged as one of the world’s major manufacturing centres.
He highly evaluated the Vietnamese government’s efforts to promote the country’s socio-economic development, which brought in important achievements.
Agreeing with the PM’s proposals, the ambassador expressed his hope that more Vietnamese businesses could participate in the global production chains of RoK firms. He also pledged to contribute to the development of Vietnamese start-ups.-VNA
