Participants in the conference held in Seoul on October 20, 2026. — VNA/VNS Photo

SEOUL — Thanh Hóa province, in coordination with the Vietnamese Embassy in the Republic of Korea (RoK) and the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses (KBIZ), held a conference in Seoul on Tuesday to promote investment, trade and tourism cooperation and connect the locality with Korean partners.

The event drew around 80 representatives from agencies, organisations and businesses of the RoK.

Addressing the event, Nguyễn Hồng Phong, standing deputy secretary of the Thanh Hóa provincial Party Committee and chairman of the provincial People’s Council, highlighted the province’s advantages of transport infrastructure and seaports. He said Thanh Hóa aims to attract Korean investment in processing and manufacturing, electronics, supporting industries, clean energy, logistics, hi-tech agriculture and tourism.

He pledged practical support for investors, including planning information, site surveys, procedural guidance and connections with partners. He said that Thanh Hóa is also introducing a “green lane” mechanism to speed up investment procedures, with valid applications meeting Level 1 requirements processed within 24 consecutive hours and those meeting Level 2 requirements within seven working days.

Ambassador Vũ Hồ emphasised the potential for cooperation and the importance of building strategic trust between local authorities and businesses, affirming that the Việt Nam-RoK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership provides a favourable foundation for expanding business cooperation between the two countries.

He encouraged RoK enterprises to establish long-term production linkage chains with Thanh Hóa, strengthen connections with local suppliers, develop human resources and improve workers’ living conditions.

Representatives of the Thanh Hóa Business Association shared local enterprises’ needs for investment and trade cooperation. Meanwhile, a representative of KEPCO Group of the RoK, an investor in Thanh Hóa, also shared experience in implementing projects and spoke positively of the locality’s investment environment. — VNA/VNS