Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam is expected to surpassJapan to become the third largest trade partner of the Republic of Korea (RoK), just behind China and the US, according to the newswire world.kbs.co.kr.
It quoted the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI)’sanalysis of investment and trade changes between the two nations during the1992-2021 period as saying that the RoK’s trade surplus with Vietnam grewsteadily from 300 million USD in 1992 to an estimated 31.3 billion USD in 2022,making Vietnam almost certainly exceed the US to become the top surpluspartner.
As of November, two-way trade between Vietnam and the RoK hit81.1 billion USD.
The figure in 1992 reached 500 million USD and saw a 161-fold rise to 80.7 billion USD in 2021. During the period, the RoK’s exports and imports soared by 8.4 and 7.5 times respectively, but its exports and imports withVietnam surged by 142 times and 240 times.
Since the establishment of their diplomatic ties, the thirdbiggest currency earners have been semiconductor chips, flat panel displays andsensors, radio and telecommunications equipment. During 2019-2021, their exportsgrew by 32%, 23.3% and 37.2%, respectively.
Data from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam showedthat as of 2021, the RoK was the biggest investor in Vietnam with 9,203projects worth 78.5 billion USD. Its FDI in Vietnam spiked from 17 million USDin 1992 to 2.4 billion USD in 2021.
Samsung is the biggest foreign-invested firm in Vietnam. Thisyear, it poured an additional 2 billion USD in the country and expects to raiseits total investment to 20 billion USD.
FKI advised the RoK Government to enhancepartnerships with Vietnam as the two governments recently upgraded the bilateralties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.
The two countries’ businesses also targeted lifting two-waytrade to 150 billion USD by 2030, doubling the current figure./.
