Vietnamese FM Bùi Thanh Sơn (R) meets with RoK NA Speaker Park Byeong-seug. VNA/VNS Photo Khánh Vân

SEOUL — Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn met with Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Park Byeong-seug and the RoK’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki in Seoul on February 11.

Speaker Park expressed his delight at the countries’ flourishing relations over the past years and highly valued Việt Nam’s role and stature in Southeast Asia.

He affirmed that the Korean parliament will support and create conditions for unceasingly develop and deepen the Việt Nam – RoK strategic cooperative partnership in all aspects.

The RoK National Assembly is ready to cooperate and share legislative and supervisory experience with its Vietnamese counterpart, while continuing to give more attention and take practical measures to support the Vietnamese community in the RoK, he noted.

Minister Sơn, who was on an official visit to the Northeast Asian nation from February 9 to 11, stated the RoK is one of the leading partners of Việt Nam and the two countries’ parliaments have held an important role in promoting the strategic cooperative partnership in the recent past.

Noting with satisfaction the increasingly strengthened ties between the two parliaments, he described 2022 as an important year as it will open up a new development stage for the countries’ relations since the establishment of their diplomatic links 30 years ago.

He said he hopes Việt Nam and the RoK will fruitfully make use of the cooperation and dialogue mechanisms on diplomacy, security – defence, and economy – trade – investment; export more Vietnamese goods to the RoK; promote the RoK’s investment in Việt Nam; boost technology transfer and labour cooperation; and step up research and development collaboration in health care, with Việt Nam receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and drug production technology from the RoK.

The Foreign Minister added Việt Nam wishes to keep the close coordination and mutual support with the RoK at multilateral forums and mechanisms. He asked for continued advocacy of the ASEAN stance on the East Sea issue, affirming that the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs will keep helping to reinforce cooperation between the two parliaments.

Both host and guest agreed to increase delegation exchanges and meetings at all levels, especially the high level, in order to enhance the political trust and cooperation between their countries’ parliaments, governments and people.

Vietnamese FM Bùi Thanh Sơn (L) meets with RoK Deputy PM and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki. VNA/VNS Photo Khánh Vân

At the meeting with Deputy PM and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki, Sơn and his host discussed measures for developing bilateral relations more strongly and comprehensively in the coming time.

They agreed to effectively carry out the Việt Nam – RoK Free Trade Agreement to raise bilateral trade to US$100 billion by 2023 and $150 billion by 2030; boost cooperation in health care, culture, education, tourism, labour, and people-to-people exchange; and maintain coordination at multilateral forums and in regional and international issues of shared concern.

Deputy PM Hong held that the countries have become priority partners of each other, adding Korean investors wish to further engage in major infrastructure projects in Việt Nam.

He asked both sides to sustain and develop the sound partnerships in culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchange while actively assisting and ensuring safety and legitimate interests for each other’s citizens.

He also expressed his hope to visit Việt Nam in the near future to co-chair the second dialogue on economic cooperation at the Deputy PM level.

The same day, the minister met with representatives of associations of Vietnamese people in the RoK. — VNS