Vietnam, RoK eye stronger ties

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) sought measures to strengthen bilateral ties in a wide range of fields during the 18th Vietnam-Korea Economic Committee Meeting held online on November 17.

The meeting was co-organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the RoK's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and relevant agencies from the two countries.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong placed emphasis on the strong development of Vietnam-RoK ties across fields, to the benefit of both sides.

Echoing Phuong’s view, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs at the RoK Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lee Seong-ho said Vietnam and the RoK have cooperated fruitfully in areas such as industry-energy, infrastructure-transport-construction, agriculture, consular affairs-justice, finance-banking, science-technology, information-telecommunications, culture-sports-tourism, education, natural resources, and the environment.

The RoK was Vietnam’s third-largest trade partner last year, after China and the US, fourth-largest export market, and second-largest import source. Vietnam exported 19.7 billion USD worth of goods to the RoK and imported 47 billion USD worth.

Two-way trade stood at 47.5 billion USD in the first nine months of this year, down 5.1 percent year-on-year, of which export revenue was 14.5 billion USD, down 2.1 percent, and import value 33 billion USD, down 6.5 percent.

Many at the meeting proposed that the RoK help Vietnamese agricultural products and food penetrate into the country, thus raising bilateral trade to 100 billion USD, and that the RoK end its imposition of anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese plywood.

As of October, the RoK had some 8,900 valid projects in Vietnam, valued at about 70.4 billion USD, ranking it first in terms of both project numbers and registered capital.

RoK firms contributed about 30 percent of Vietnam’s export value in the first nine months.

Vietnam, meanwhile, has invested in 49 projects worth 35.24 million USD in the RoK, primarily in science-technology, mining, and processing and manufacturing.

The RoK Government has asked local firms to consider investing in Vietnam, especially in fields the Southeast Asian country has prioritised, such as high-tech, electronics, renewable energy, infrastructure, high-quality agriculture, healthcare, biology, and tourism.

Vietnam has remained the RoK’s priority development aid recipient, with about 20 percent of the total to date./.