Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Vương Đình Huệ and Speaker of the Republic of Korea's National Assembly Park Byeong-Seug hold talks in Seoul on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo

SEOUL — Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Vương Đình Huệ and Speaker of the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s National Assembly Park Byeong-Seug agreed to continue to deepen the relationship between the two parliaments with the plan to establish friendship groups of young and female parliamentarians.

RoK National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-Seug hosted an official welcoming ceremony in Seoul for chairman Huệ yesterday. The two legislators then held talks to discuss various issues.

The Korean parliament leader spoke highly of chairman Huệ’s official visit to the RoK, saying that the visit had contributed to promoting the strategic partnership between the two countries and was the first visit to the RoK by a Vietnamese high-ranking leader since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug affirmed that despite the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the relationship between the two countries continues to maintain development momentum in numerous fields, especially in politics, economy, security, defence and people-to-people exchanges.

He emphasised that the RoK considers Việt Nam a key partner in implementing the New Southern Policy and wishes to promote upgrading their relations in the near future.

The two leaders discussed in-depth exchange of cooperation in various fields and agreed on a number of measures to promote stronger, more substantive and effective ties.

The two sides supported upgrading the Việt Nam-RoK relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.

The two parliaments pledged to work with the two governments, political parties and people of the two countries to carry out delegation and high-level exchanges in various flexible forms which are suitable to the new situation.

Chairman Huệ said he wanted the RoK to share its economic development experience, including green development and innovation.

The two sides agreed to strive to lift two-way trade turnover to US$100 billion in 2023 and $150 billion in 2030 towards balancing the trade balance, including creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese farm produce, export seafood and fishery products to enter the Korean market and participate in the global supply chain of Korean enterprises.

Việt Nam encourages Korean businesses to continue to make and expand investment in Việt Nam, especially in the fields of supporting industries, high technology, smart city development and future industries, agriculture and technology transfer, Huệ said.

They also agreed to foster cooperation in UN peacekeeping, crime and terrorism prevention, recovering the consequences of landmines and mines after the war in Việt Nam as well as labour exchange, digital transformation, culture, arts and sports.

The two leaders agreed to exchange experiences in the fight against COVID-19, strengthen cooperation in research and development, transfer of technology to produce vaccines and treatment drugs to treat COVID-19 and medical equipment.

They vowed to continue working closely at multilateral forums.

The RoK National Assembly Speaker affirmed to support Việt Nam to perform its role as the coordinator of ASEAN-RoK relations for 2021-24 tenure.

The RoK also affirmed to continue to support and share the common vision of ensuring security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea, maintaining a peaceful, stable environment and legal order and settling disputes at sea by peaceful means in accordance with international laws and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).

The two parliaments agreed to effectively implement the cooperation agreement signed in 2013, maintain regular parliamentary exchanges of delegations, closely cooperate and support each other in international and regional inter-parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APPF), the Council of Inter-Parliamentary Association of Southeast Asian Nations (AIPA).

Việt Nam-RoK Business Forum

The same day National Assembly Chairman Huệ and Speaker of the RoK National Assembly Park Byeong-seug attended the Việt Nam - RoK Business Forum in Seoul.

The event was jointly organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK and the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI).

Addressing the event, Chairman of FKI Huh Chang-soo highlighted that Việt Nam is the fourth largest trading partner of the RoK, while the RoK is the third largest trading partner of, and the largest foreign investor in Việt Nam with about 9,000 Korean firms operating in the Southeast Asian nation.

As a strategic partner of Việt Nam, the RoK supports Việt Nam's vision and development potential, he stated.

At the forum, the top legislators of the two countries witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements between Vietnamese localities with Korean businesses.

On the occasion, officials from Thái Nguyên, Hà Nam, Thái Bình and Hải Dương provinces handed over 15 investment certificates and cooperation agreements to Korean firms. — VNS