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Sep 21, 2016 / 10:58

S. Korea, Vietnam to hold joint economic committee meeting

South Korea and Vietnam will hold a joint committee meeting this week to discuss economic cooperation and other pending issues, the foreign ministry said.

The 15th Joint Economic Committee will be held in Hanoi on 22 September with the talks to be led by Lee Tae-ho, deputy foreign minister for economic affairs and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen The Phuong, according to the ministry. 
The committee has been held since 1993 and aims at providing a platform for both sides to exchange views and ideas on economic cooperation in a wide range of areas. 
At the upcoming meeting, both will discuss follow-up measures to what was agreed upon in a summit held during the ASEM gathering in July, the ministry said. 
South Korea will, in particular, focus on ways to boost bilateral trade and investment, help Korean companies win infrastructure construction projects and make inroads into the financial market there, the ministry said. 
Asean - Korea Centre General Secretary Kim Young Sun said, given increasingly developed trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, key industries are being given priorities. He added that Vietnam still has a lot of untapped potential, for example, golden-age population, studiousness and capable young people who are not inferior to people from any countries. Recently, international economists called Vietnam the "Asian Dragon".

In addition, Vietnam and South Korea have upheld the fine relations for over 20 years. Bilateral trade between the two came to US$37.6 billion last year, up from a mere $493 million in 1992 when they established diplomatic relations, according to government data. The two enacted a free trade deal last year under which they lowered trade barriers that can bolster commerce.  More than 4,400 South Korean companies are doing business in Vietnam and going with Vietnam to the world including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and other major conglomerates.
In the past time, the two countries deepened cooperation in apparels, footwear and light industries. Currently, Vietnam and South Korea are expanding cooperation to high-valued fields like electronics and information technology, a step to realise the target of US$70 billion of two-way trade revenue in 2020.