HÀ NỘI — Enterprises from the Republic of South Korea want to boost their co-operation with Vietnamese firms, especially ones working in the technology sector due to the huge potential in the Vietnamese market.

The statement was made by Kyu-Min Baek, director of global innovation at the Korea’s Innobiz Association, at the Việt Nam – Korea small- and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs) technology matching conference held in Hà Nội on Thursday.

The seminar was organised in the framework of South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s state visit to Việt Nam from March 22-24. The event is a chance for Vietnamese enterprises to access advanced South Korean products and technologies and promote opportunities for investment and business co-operation between enterprises from the two countries.

Through this event, Vietnamese businesses can meet and negotiate directly with Korean partners regarding the distribution of products and the transfer of Korean technology into Việt Nam and vice versa.

“There are many advantages in the co-operation of the two countries, such as the cheap labour costs in Việt Nam and the similar culture, although we need lots of time to study the market as well as discover the current situation of the Vietnamese market,” Ju-Yound Youn, president and CEO of Woosang Advanced Material Company told Việt Nam News.

At the first session of the business to business (B2B) conference on Thursday morning, a co-operation agreement was successfully signed between Việt Nam’s Vĩnh Phúc Investment Trading Company Limited and RoK’s Jeonwoo Precision Company Limited.

“It is the first time my company has taken part in this event. My company specialises in the supporting industry, therefore, one of our most difficult issues is technology and I think South Korean firms can help us deal with this,” said Phạm Văn Quyết, deputy director of Vĩnh Phúc Investment Trading Company Limited.

Việt Nam has now emerged as the South Korea’s fourth largest trading partner while the South Korea has become Việt Nam’s second biggest trading partner. Last year, the two countries saw bilateral trade reach US$63.9 billion, an increase of more than 40 per cent year-on-year.

In addition, South Korea is the largest investor in Việt Nam with an accumulated investment amount of $57.9 billion. Việt Nam is a crucial investment destination for the South Korea, which is evidenced by the fact that more than half of Korean businesses (some 5,500 out of about 8,600) operating in the ASEAN region have a presence in the country. 

The event was organised by International Intellectual Property Agency (Investip) in accordance with South Korea’s Innobiz Association. It drew the participation of 10 Korean firms and some 60 enterprises from Việt Nam. — VNS