Vietnamese President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and Republic of Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoulon December 6, 2022. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and a high-ranking delegation from Việt Nam returned to Hà Nội on Wednesday, concluding a successful State visit to the Republic of Korea (RoK) at the invitation of President Yoon Suk-yeol.

This was the first visit to the RoK by Phúc in his capacity as President of Việt Nam, and also the first by a Vietnamese President in the past 11 years, and the highest-level visit by Vietnamese Party and State leaders to the RoK since the East Asian country elected a new President.

Notably, President Phúc was the first foreign high-ranking leader to pay a State visit to the RoK since President Yoon took office in May this year.

During the visit, the two leaders agreed to issue a joint statement on upgrading the Việt Nam-RoK relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, opening up a new chapter for the bilateral ties, with a brighter future for both countries and people. They  agreed to promote the bilateral trade in a stable and balanced manner, remain leading trade partners of each other, and raise the two-way trade revenue to US$100 billion by 2023 and $150 billion by 2030.

They also witnessed the signing of many cooperation documents between ministries, agencies, localities and businesses of the two countries.

At the meetings with RoK Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Speaker of the RoK National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo, the leaders compared notes on cooperation orientations within the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership in all fields, and expressed their resolve to deepen the bilateral ties.

The Vietnamese president had 12 meetings with nearly 30 leaders of Korean groups, banks, financial organisations and investors that are investing tens of billions of USD in the Southeast Asian nation.

The leader affirmed that the upgrading of the relationship helps to raise the mutual political trust and enhance the cooperation framework, creating a firm platform for enterprises to run long-term business on a larger scale and gain more success in the respective markets.

A highlight of the visit was the Việt Nam-RoK business forum with the participation of more than 500 delegates and businesspeople from the two countries.

In his remarks, Phúc stressed that Việt Nam always creates favourable conditions for Korean firms to operate effectively and sustainably in the country.

Apart from agreements reached earlier, as many as 15 others were officially inked at the forum. The accumulative value of the deals, along with commitments and investment proposals made during the President’s visit, amounted to nearly $15 billion.

The President met representatives of the Vietnamese community in the RoK and hosted receptions for representatives from cultural and friendship organisations that play an important role in promoting cooperation and people-to-people exchange between the two countries.

He also visited a Vietnamese-Korean multicultural family and held a working session with the authorities of Gwangju city in Gyeonggi province, among other activities.

With nearly 30 activities within three days, the success of the President’s visit reaffirmed Việt Nam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation, development, and the diversification and multilateralisation of relations. — VNS