South Korea expects to upgrade the bilateral relations with Vietnam to a comprehensive strategic partnership from the current status of the strategic cooperative partnership that has lasted from 2009.
| Chairman of Vietnam's National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue (L) and South Korean National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug in the virtual meeting on June 23. Photo: Gia Han/Thanh Nien |
South Korean National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug expressed his expectation at the virtual meeting with Chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly (NA) Vuong Dinh Hue on June 23.
At the proposal, Vuong Dinh Hue affirmed that Vietnam wishes to promote its extensive cooperation with South Korea and is willing to bring the partnership to a new height in the coming time.
Hue suggested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies of the two countries will take responsibility for building specific contents and goals, enabling both sides to set out concrete commitments, especially ahead of the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic relations in 2022.
"Vietnam attaches importance to developing relations with South Korea, always considering Korea as an important and long-term partner. Vietnam highly appreciates and believes that South Korea’s New Southern Policy [aims to cultivate its relations with ASEAN and India] will facilitate the Vietnam-South Korea Strategic Partnership," Hue said.
Concerning the economic ties, the two sides talked about the trade target of US$100 billion [in 2023] with more balance to Vietnam.
During the meeting, the two speakers stressed the importance of cooperation in culture, sports, and education.
Vuong Dinh Hue said the advancement to the final round of the World Cup 2022 Qualifiers of the Vietnam National Football Team headed by South Korean coach Park Hang-seo is an example of the people-to-people links between the two countries. He highly appreciated the role of South Korean tactician in the team’s achievements and said Park is “so special” in boosting the people-to-people relations.
South Korea is Vietnam’s biggest investor with US$71.85 billion in nearly 9,000 projects, the second biggest donor of official development assistance (ODA), and the largest recipient of Vietnamese workers. The country is also Vietnam’s second-largest trade partner with a two-way turnover of US$65 billion in 2020.
