Việt Nam’s Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình meets with Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Lee Nak-yon during a meeting in Seoul.– VNA/VNS Photo Vũ Toàn-Hữu Tuyên

SEOUL – Việt Nam and South Korea are enjoying robust growth of their strategic co-operative partnership, high-level officials affirmed yesterday.

The affirmation was made by Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Lee Nak-yon and Việt Nam’s Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình during a meeting in Seoul. Both officials expressed pleasure at this development.
They also agreed on specific measures to enhance political trust through maintaining high-level delegation exchanges and effectively implementing existing co-operation mechanisms including the Vietnam-RoK strategic dialogue on diplomacy, security and defence, and the agreement to increase two-way trade to US$100 billion by 2020.
They agreed to strengthen co-operation in other fields like culture, education, tourism, labour, and people-to-people exchanges while actively supporting and ensuring safety and legitimate rights of their citizens in either country.

The two countries will further enhance co-ordination at multilateral forums, the officials agreed.
Bình thanked the RoK Government for providing US$1 million to support flood victims in the central part of Việt Nam.
He invited Korean businesses to increase investments in Việt Nam in hi-tech development, environmental protection, processing and manufacturing industries, supporting industries, renewable energy, infrastructure development, and hi-tech agriculture.
He also welcomed the involvement of Korean firms in the process of equitising State-owned enterprises, restructuring commercial banks, and developing special administrative-economic zones in Việt Nam.
He asked South Korea to facilitate the entry of Vietnamese products to its market, especially in the agro-forestry-fishery sector, as also support Việt Nam in joining the RoK’s global supply chain.

Bình also requested South Korea to provide non-refundable aid for technology transfer, human resources training, agricultural and rural development, and energy safety.
He called for an early signing of a support agreement in civil affairs and trade and extending a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on receiving Vietnamese workers to the RoK under the Employment Permit System (EPS), which concludes in May 2018.
The Deputy PM asked the RoK to apply a visa exemption policy and make it easier for Vietnamese tourists to visit the country, and increase direct flights between the two countries.

The two sides should enhance co-ordination on regional and international issues of mutual concern, especially in maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon spoke highly of the growth in bilateral relations 25 years of establishing diplomatic ties.

The RoK Government attaches great importance to developing its strategic cooperative partnership with Việt Nam and will direct all relevant ministries and departments to effectively implement agreements reached, according to the Prime Minister.
Also yesterday, Deputy PM Bình received President of the RoK-Việt Nam Friendship Association Choi Young-joo. He asked the association to continue co-ordinating with the Việt Nam-RoK Friendship Association and the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK to promote bilateral co-operation, especially in economics and people-to-people exchanges.
He later met with representatives of leading Korean businesses, including the SK Group, the KB Financial Group, and the Maeil Business Newspaper. — VNS