Chairman of the National Assembly Vương Đình Huệ meets Chairman of SK Group Chey Tae Won. VNA/VNS Photo: Doãn TấN

SEOUL — National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ yesterday met with leaders of the country's leading corporations and businesses, including Deputy President and CEO of Samsung Electronics Han Jong-hee; Chairman of the Board of Directors of SK Group Choi Tae-won and Lotte Shopping and Lotte Mart CEO Kang Sung-hyun.

The meetings took place within the framework of Huệ’s official visit to South Korea. 

At the meetings, National Assembly Chairman Huệ emphasised that Việt Nam and South Korea are making efforts to bring bilateral relations to a new height on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations, of which the economy is an important pillar. 

Among the Vietnamese delegation to South Korea, the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Lê Minh Khái, who is in charge of economics and five leaders of relevant ministries show the determination to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation to achieve the target of US$100 billion by 2023.

Leaders of corporations and businesses highly appreciated the significance of the visit in promoting cooperation between the two countries, especially economic cooperation in the post-COVID-19 era. Appreciating the results of COVID-19 prevention and control and the maintenance and development of Việt Nam's economy in the past, leaders of Korean corporations and businesses expressed their peace of mind that Việt Nam is rapidly transitioning to a new phase of safely adapting to the pandemic and preparing to implement the Master Programme on economic recovery after COVID-19.

They expressed their belief that with current efforts, Việt Nam will continue to be an attractive destination for foreign investors, including South Korean investors. 

Leaders of corporations and businesses also pledged to continue making long-term investments in Việt Nam and say they are looking forward to close cooperation in fields such as energy, semiconductor production and ICT in the future as well as investment cooperation in high-tech industries, green industries, and clean energy.

At a meeting with Samsung Electronics leaders, National Assembly Chairman Huệ said that Việt Nam is transitioning to a policy of safe adaptation to COVID-19 and will soon resume commercial flights, expected from January 1, 2022. 

This will facilitate bilateral trade and investment activities, he said.

Việt Nam welcomes Samsung Group's investment in the Innovation Research Center, and hopes that Samsung will manufacture semiconductors to create a closed high-tech chain in line with the company's strengths in Việt Nam. 

Việt Nam supports the company's business expansion plan in the near future; highly appreciates Samsung Group's plan to support Vietnamese businesses to participate in the global supply chain, and suggested that the group have specific strategies and solutions to support Vietnamese businesses to improve production capacity and be able to participate in the global supply chain of Samsung Group and Samsung Electronics Company.

Samsung Electronics operates in high-tech fields such as developing and manufacturing household electronic products, mobile phones; semiconductors, and telecommunications equipment. Samsung Electronics is currently one of the largest FDI companies in Việt Nam with a total investment of more than $17.7 billion with factories in Bắc Ninh and Thái Nguyên provinces.

Meeting representatives of SK Group, the National Assembly Chairman thanked SK for participating and donating $30 million to Việt Nam's National Innovation Center; suggested that they continue to have programmes to support Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises to improve their competitiveness to participate in the global supply chain. 

Welcoming and supporting SK's cooperation proposal in the fields of energy, semiconductors, and ICT, the National Assembly Chairman said that these are all areas that Việt Nam wishes to increase attracting foreign investment in the near future. 

Huệ also proposed SK to study and support Việt Nam in the energy transition and implementation of a roadmap to reduce carbon emissions in the coming time; wishes SK to cooperate in technology transfer to produce vaccines and drugs to treat COVID-19 patients.

Currently, SK has invested $2 billion in Vingroup, Masan, and Imexpharm pharmaceutical compay, and is continuing to expand investment in areas where the group has strengths such as energy, clean energy, pharmaceutical - healthcare, logistics, information technology. The group contributed $1 million to the Vaccine Fund against COVID-19.

At the meeting with representatives of Lotte Group, National Assembly Chairman Huệ welcomed the efforts to develop activities of Lotte Group recently. During the implementation of two projects of the group in Thủ Thiêm and Lotte Mall in Hà Nội, Vietnamese agencies have made great efforts so that the two projects can be implemented quickly. 

As the two countries are approaching the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2022, National Assembly Chairman Huệ suggested that the corporation have suitable works, worthy of this important milestone.

Lotte has been investing in Việt Nam since 1996. VNS