The Prime Ministers of Vietnam and the Republic of Korea have agreed tocontinue boosting and deepening the two countries’ friendship andcooperation in all areas, in the spirit of the strategic cooperativepartnership.
During their talks in Seoul on March 29, PM NguyenTan Dung of Vietnam and RoK PM Kim Hwang-sik also agreed to coordinatein organising a series of activities to celebrate the Vietnam-RoKFriendship Year-2012, aiming to increase friendship and people-to-peopleexchanges between the two countries.
PM Kim spoke highly of PMDung’s visit to the RoK in the friendship year, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties.
The RoK leader affirmed that his country continues to consider Vietnam as a key partner in cooperation and investment.
The two PMs were unanimous on working closely in helping their respective residents, including Vietnamese brides in the RoK.
Thetwo PMs witnessed the signing of an agreement to provide loans to asolar energy project in Vietnam’s Quang Binh province and the Long Xuyensolid waste treatment and drainage system project, plus a memorandum ofunderstanding on insurance cooperation between the Vietnamese FinanceMinistry, RoK Import-Export Bank and the RoK financial supervisioncommittee.
Also the same day, PM Dung attended round-table talkswith more than 50 RoK businesses, affirming Vietnam ’s support forRoK businesses to increase investment and economic cooperation ininfrastructure, high-tech, processing and manufacturing technology,green growth and clean energy use.
RoK businesses spoke highly of Vietnam ’s large workforce and its economic development potential.
TheRoK now has 3,000 investment projects in Vietnam , worth a total 24billion USD and is a major ODA provider for Vietnam , with two-waytrade reaching 18 billion USD in 2011.
Later in the day, PrimeMinister Nguyen Tan Dung left the RoK, ending his two-day visit. Priorto the official visit, PM Dung attended the 2nd Nuclear Security Summitin Seoul from March 26-27.
The RoK visit by PM Dung is anopening political event for the Vietnam-RoK Friendship Year in which thetwo countries are celebrating the 20 th anniversary of theirdiplomatic ties, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Luong Minh said after thevisit.
During PM Dung’s talks with RoK President Lee Myung-bakand Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, the two sides reached consensus on anumber of measures to further deepen the two countries’ strategicpartnership in the near future, Minh said.
They affirmed their desire to raise bilateral trade to 20 billion ahead of 2015 and aim to reach 30 billion USD, he said.
TheDeputy FM said he believes the strategic cooperative partnershipbetween Vietnam and the RoK will continue to develop strongly and infuture, bringing practical benefits and contributing to prosperousdevelopment in each country, as well as to peace, stability, cooperationand development in the region and the world.