Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT) of the Republic of Korea (RoK) held a railway cooperation forum in Hanoi on March 31, eyeing for further cooperation in the railway sector.
Speaking at the forum, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Danh Huy hailed the Vietnam-RoK cooperation in different fields, particularly in the transport sector. Currently, the RoK is the second largest bilateral donor for Vietnam's transport sector.
Since 1996, the Korean government has provided funding for Vietnam’s transport infrastructure development. To date, the two countries have successfully completed nine projects, with total loans of over 1 billion USD, and are currently working on six other projects with loans worth nearly 600 million USD.
Huy said that Vietnam has been giving priorities to developing road, aviation, maritime, and inland waterway infrastructure while investment for railway infrastructure remains modest due to several key challenges, including high investment costs, complicated technical requirements, and the need for synchronized and integrated high-tech solutions.
He noted that the Party, State and Government of Vietnam have made many important decisions and policies on investment in railway infrastructure development, demonstrating their determination in developing and modernising the railway industry. Meanwhile, the RoK is a developed country with a leading railway industry and infrastructure system, Huy said, emphasing that Vietnam hopes that the RoK will share its valuable experiences in developing the railway system.
Korean Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Park Sang-woo said that the RoK has been developing high-speed rail projects for more than 20 years. Its first high-speed train line KTX started operations in 2004, not merely a means of transport but also a driving force for development and innovation of the country.
He said the RoK started developing high-speed rail by importing technology from France. However, with research and development efforts at the national level, it has become the fourth country in the world to master high-speed train technology and be recognised by the international market.
Park affirmed that the RoK is ready to accompany Vietnam at all stages from construction to operation of high-speed train lines, and cooperate in technology transfer and in training.
At the forum, a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed by representatives of the Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL), the Korean National Railway (KNR), and the Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR), while another MoU was inked by representatives from the Korea Railway Association (KORASS) and the Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors (VACC).
Within the framework of the forum, the Vietnam Railway Administration introduced the master plan for the development of the railway network and the implementation of a number of key projects in Vietnam.
Representatives of the KNR and the KORAIL also shared experiences and technologies in the development of railway infrastructure systems, especially technology transfer, organisation of the railway industry, and management and operation of the high-speed rail system./.
