RoK President Moon Jae-in and visiting Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (L) (Photo: The Blue House) Son is paying an official visit to the country from February 9 to 11 at the invitation of his RoK counterpart Chung Eui-yong, during which theofficial is scheduled to attend a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD)’s Southeast Asia Regional Programme (SEARP).
Hosting the Vietnamese minister, President Moon expressed his hopethat the two nations will soon elevate their ties to a comprehensive strategicpartnership and recommended the sides increase their collaboration regarding regionaland international issues of common interest.
He also requested that Vietnam further facilitate RoK firms' operation in the country, particularly those investing in infrastructure, finance,and large-scale projects.
Appreciating Vietnam’s coordinating role for the ASEAN-RoKrelations during 2021-2024, the President said the Vietnamese FM's current visit tothe RoK will contribute to developing his nation’s ties with Vietnam and ASEANin the time to come.
For his part, Son affirmed Vietnam highly values and wants tofoster its relations with the RoK, particularly in organising activities incelebration of the 30th founding anniversary of their bilateraldiplomatic relationship and in lifting the ties to a comprehensive strategicpartnership this year.
He suggested the sides maintain regular high-level exchangesand interactions, create a favourable political environment and effectively implementmechanism for cooperation expansion, especially in economy, trade, investment,and post-pandemic recovery.
The diplomat highlighted the goal of raising bilateral trade to 100 billion USD in 2023 and the need to enhance bilateralcollaboration in culture, education tourism, labour, people-to-people exchange,and citizen protection.
It is also necessary to maintain the bilateral cooperationat multilateral forums, he added.
He stressed Vietnam will fulfill its role of coordinator forASEAN-RoK relations for 2021 – 2024 to achieve more practical and effectiveprogress in the ties.
The Vietnamese minister hoped that the two nations willcontinue to coordinate and affirm their stance on maintaining peace,stability and legal order at sea, respecting the freedom of navigation andoverflight and settling the East Sea disputes by peaceful means on the basis ofinternational law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law ofthe Sea (UNCLOS).
The sides should continue to support the building of asubstantive and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in accordancewith international law and the UNCLOS, Son noted./.
VNA
