Vietnam - Korea aim for 150 billion USD in bilateral trade

In an atmosphere of friendship, sincerity and cooperation, Korean Prime Minister Han Duck Soo welcomed the first official visit to Korea by a Vietnamese senior leader since the two countries upgraded their relationship to a strategic partnership. overview; Emphasizing that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit is important in the context that the two countries' relations are developing well and practically in all fields.

The Korean Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam is a key partner in implementing foreign policies in the region, including the Indo-Pacific Strategy and the ASEAN-Korea Solidarity Initiative (KASI); Vietnam is assessed as Korea's first largest partner in development cooperation, third largest trade partner and Korea's largest investment partner in ASEAN.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked the warm, respectful and thoughtful welcome that Prime Minister Han Duck Soo and the Korean Government gave to the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation; expressed joy about the outstanding development achievements that created the "Miracle on the Han River" of the country and people of Korea.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh respectfully conveyed the greetings of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and senior Vietnamese leaders to Prime Minister Han Duck Soo. The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam supports Korea's development policies and goals, including the "Global Key Country" policy and wishes to develop a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries in essence. , effective and long lasting.

At the talks, the two leaders reviewed the achievements and substantive progress of the bilateral relationship since upgrading to a comprehensive strategic partnership in December 12; Extensive discussions on major directions and specific measures to promote the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to develop stronger and more substantively.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized 8 points of further progress after the two countries upgraded relations, including political trust, trade, investment, tourism, people-to-people exchanges, science and technology cooperation, labor, local cooperation, cooperation in regional and international issues and asked Prime Minister Han Duck Soo to pay attention to directing 5 priorities for implementing cooperation in the coming time.

The two sides agreed to cooperate closely to promote delegation exchanges and high-level contacts at all levels at all channels of the Party, State, Government, National Assembly and people-to-people exchanges to further enhance political trust. mutual understanding and value, creating a foundation to promote and expand bilateral cooperation in all fields; reaching common awareness on strengthening practical cooperation in the fields of defense and security; Coordinate the implementation of cooperation agreements between the two countries, including effectively implementing the "Action Program to implement the Vietnam-Korea Comprehensive Strategic Partnership".

The two sides agreed that economics is an important pillar in bilateral cooperation; Affirming the need to closely coordinate and deploy practical measures to soon complete the goal of raising bilateral trade turnover to 100 billion USD by 2025 on the 10th anniversary of signing the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement ( VKFTA) and aiming for a target of 150 billion USD by 2030 in a balanced and sustainable direction; agreed to direct ministries and branches to speed up procedures to announce market opening for Vietnamese grapefruit and Korean melons in 2024.

Prime Minister Han Duck Soo said that creating favorable investment conditions is necessary for sustainable trade and investment expansion, enhancing cooperation in the field of future industries, and start-up cooperation between medium-sized enterprises. and small of the two countries; suggested that Vietnam actively support solving problems of Korean businesses in Vietnam; affirmed that they will expand support for Vietnamese businesses to participate more deeply in the production supply chain led by Korean businesses in Vietnam, suggesting that the two sides strengthen cooperation in promoting foreign investment. Korean businesses aim to build a stable core mineral supply chain.

Emphasizing that Korea continues to consider Vietnam an important strategic partner in development cooperation, the Korean Prime Minister said that Korea prioritizes supporting Vietnam in training human resources in the industrial sector through development aid. non-refundable development of KOICA International Cooperation Agency; Committed to further expanding the scale of non-refundable aid to areas such as public administration development, e-Government, education, research and development; said that it will continue to increase the quota to receive Vietnamese workers; Supporting phase 2 of the Vietnam-Korea Research and Development Institute (VKIST) Project.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed that Korea continue to open more doors for Vietnam's strong goods such as processed foods, agricultural and aquatic products, and seasonal fruits to enter the Korean market; Encourage Korean businesses to expand investment in Vietnam, especially in the fields of gas power (LNG), digital economy, green economy, circular economy, semiconductors, renewable energy, technology biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI); Strengthen the construction of research and development centers in Vietnam.

The two sides agreed to strengthen cultural cooperation, tourism, education and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed that the Korean Government support the early opening of the Vietnamese Consulate General in Busan city in 2024 and the establishment of the "Vietnamese Cultural Center in Korea"; Simplifying visa procedures and moving towards visa exemption for Vietnamese citizens entering Korea, contributing to promoting tourism cooperation between the two countries; Strengthen cooperation between localities of the two countries, effectively deploy the "Meet Korea" mechanism in Vietnamese localities; provide more scholarships for Vietnamese students to study in Korea; We request the Korean Government to continue to support and create more favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community to feel secure and stabilize their long-term life in Korea.

At the talks, the two Prime Ministers discussed international and regional issues of mutual concern; agreed to cooperate closely at regional and international multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations and ASEAN. The two leaders share a common vision of ensuring security, safety, and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea; emphasized support for resolving disputes by peaceful means, in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam consistently supports non-governmental nuclearization, promoting dialogue, peace, stability, cooperation and development on the Korean Peninsula.

Immediately after the talks, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Han Duck Soo issued a joint press release on the results of the talks and witnessed the awarding ceremony of 9 cooperation documents between ministries, branches and agencies of the two countries in fields of economics, trade, investment, education, development cooperation, exchange of startup ecosystems, competition and consumer protection./.

Source: Vietnam.vn