Vietnam and RoK boost cooperation in public administration

The signing of the document took place in Seoul on July 15 following a meeting between visiting Vietnamese Minister of the Interior Pham Thi Thanh Tra and RoK Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min.

During the meeting, the two ministers informed each other about major developments in their respective countries, as well as measures adopted to increase bilateral cooperation.

According to Tra, the Vietnamese Ministry of the Interior has developed good relationships with Korean partners in various areas of state management.

The two sides have actively exchanged information and cooperated in the fields of public sector reform, national governance, government regeneration, and refresher training, as well as ministerial round tables on civil service reform.

Tra thanked the Korean side for receiving and training officials, helping Vietnam accelerate administrative reform, modernize the administration, implement digital transformation, and build an e-government towards a digital government.

Lee for his part emphasized the importance of people-centred public administration reform in national development, which he said has helped turn the RoK into an aid donor from being an aid recipient previously.

The Rok has promoted the application of information technology, enhanced digital transformation capacity, and improved the capacity of civil servants through training. It has implemented many measures to reform central and local governments, digitally transform, and improve digital government capacity.

Both host and guest agreed to strengthen cooperation between the two ministries in the field of public administration. They planned to hold a government innovation workshop this year in the face of global challenges. The Korean side agreed to increase information sharing to support Vietnam in the fields of administrative reform, national governance, reform, and local government structure.

During her stay in Seoul, Tra called at the headquarters of the Vietnamese Embassy where she expressed hope the embassy would help boost cooperation with the RoK in fields where it has strengths, such as digital transformation, e-government, state governance, smart urban management, and human resource training.