Seoul (VNA) – The Republic of Korea’s media has highlighted thesignificance of President Moon Jae-in’svisit to Vietnam, saying it reflects his initiative to expand the RoK’seconomic market around the world.
President Moon Jae-in embarks on a seven-day trip to Vietnam and the UnitedArab Emirates (UAE) from March 22-28, with Vietnam his first destination.
“Vietnam is a young, dynamic country with a 100 million population with anaverage age of just 30,” JoongAng Daily said. “Taking pride in amazing growthas high as 6.8 percent last year — second only to China in the world — Vietnamis our third largest export market following China and the United States.”
The newspaper also mentioned Vietnam as the RoK’s potential security partner.
Moon came to Vietnam last November to attend the Asia-Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC) meeting in central Da Nang city, it recalled. His Statevisit to Vietnam only four months later shows his determination to improveSeoul’s relations with Hanoi, it noted.
Moon Jae-in and his spouse are on a State visit to Vietnam from March 22-24.The visit is made at the invitation of Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang.
Vietnam and the RoK set up diplomatic ties on December 22, 1992. The twocountries elevated the bilateral relationship to the level of strategicpartnership in 2009.
According to Vietnam’s General Department of Customs, two-way trade betweenVietnam and the RoK hit 61.5 billion USD in 2017, a year-on-year increase of41.3 percent.
Vietnam’s exports to the RoK reached 14.8 billion USD, while its imports fromthe East Asian country stood at 46.7 billion USD, up 30 percent and 45.3percent against 2016, respectively.
The two countries have set a target of 100 billion USD in two-way trade by2020.
The RoK was the second largest foreign investor in Vietnam last year, justbehind Japan, with total registered capital of 8.49 billion USD.
In terms of accumulative investment, the country ranked first among 125countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with total investment capitalof 57.7 billion USD by the end of December 2017.-VNA
VNA