Vietnamese Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Nguyễn Vũ Tùng. — VNA/VNS Photo

SEOUL — The state visit to Việt Nam by President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Yoon Suk Yeol from June 22-24 at the invitation of President Võ Văn Thưởng is a vivid testament to the special importance given by the Korean government and the President himself to the bilateral relationship, a Vietnamese diplomat has said.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Vietnamese Ambassador to the RoK Nguyễn Vũ Tùng highlighted the significance of the visit, stressing that it would mark an important milestone in the relations between the leaders of the two countries, helping promote stronger exchanges between ministries, sectors, localities, businesses, and people of Việt Nam and the RoK.

Việt Nam attached importance to the Việt Nam-RoK cooperation within Việt Nam’s overall development strategy in general as well as the country’s foreign policy in particular, the diplomat stated.

"The Việt Nam-RoK relationship is based on two main pillars – trust and win-win cooperation," Tùng said, adding that the visit aims to strengthen the trust and mutual benefits.

High-level visits and exchanges had always been means to enhance trust between the two nations, he said.

"The specific outcomes of this visit are expected to pave the way for lifting the bilateral ties between the two countries to a new height within the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership, contributing to bringing benefits to localities, businesses and people of both nations," Ambassador Tùng said.

The trip is also hoped to create new momentum for all-around cooperation between the two countries in 2023, from politics and diplomacy to security, defence, economy, education-training, science-technology, culture, sports, tourism, labour, and people-to-people exchange, according to the ambassador.

The RoK is currently promoting several notable policies, including the “Global Pivotal State (GPS), the Indo-Pacific Strategy, and the ASEAN-Korea Solidarity Initiative. Therefore, Việt Nam's reception of the RoK president also sends out a message of Việt Nam's support for and trust that the RoK government and its people will successfully implement their policies and development goals in the future, contributing to peace, prosperity, and stability of the region and the world.

The visit will take place in an unpredictable geopolitical and economic context in recent times, so it highlights the importance of the Việt Nam-RoK cooperation across fields.

The Việt Nam-RoK relations had recorded great progress across fields over the last 30 years, from politics-diplomacy, security-defence, to economy and culture, Tùng said, noting that their cooperation had transitioned from "overlapping interest" to a higher level, known as "intertwining interest”.

The political relations, mutual trust and understanding between high-level leaders of the two countries had always been strengthened throughout different periods, serving as a solid foundation to deepen the bilateral relations in various fields.

"The two nations have more opportunities to step up ties as the bilateral and multilateral cooperation frameworks and mechanisms have been strengthened, trust deepened, and people-to-people relation cemented," he noted.

Since the establishment of the bilateral diplomatic relations in 1992, the two countries have upgraded their relationship twice, from a comprehensive partnership to a strategic cooperative partnership in 2009, and to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2022. The two nations’ high-ranking leaders have maintained regular exchanges of delegations and visits. Meanwhile, mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation have been established and operated stably across various fields.

Tùng emphasised the vital role of economic cooperation in the bilateral relationship, saying that economic ties have been rapidly progressing and the two countries have become top important economic partners of each other in various sectors.

The RoK remains the largest foreign investor in Việt Nam and the third biggest trade partner of the Southeast Asian nation. Its trade with Việt Nam ranks first in ASEAN, accounting for 45-50 per cent of the Northeast Asian nation’s total trade with the bloc.

"Increasing people-to-people exchanges between the two nations are the basis for promoting economic, cultural and educational cooperation, and relationships between their localities," Tùng stressed.

The successful cooperation between the two countries had brought about a new position for each other at regional and global forums, he said, noting that there is great potential for the two sides to expand cooperation if they can fully tap the comprehensive strategic relationship.

The two sides should continue to exploit the complementarity of the two economies from the perspective of human resources/labour, value chain/supply chain, technology transfer, and trade balance, the ambassador said.

He suggested the two sides expand their partnership in new areas such as climate change response, digital transformation, green development, clean energy, supply chain stability, defence industry cooperation, coordination within the framework of trade agreements and mechanisms, and people-to-people exchange. — VNA/VNS