Vietnam and RoK exchange 17 cooperation documents

The exchange of the documents took place shortly after high-level talks between Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong and his RoK counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol who is in Hanoi for an official visit to Vietnam.

During the talks, the two presidents agreed that the Vietnam – RoK relations have stood the test of time and cultivated positive results over the past three decades, as evidenced in establishing their comprehensive partnership in 2001 and lifting their ties to a strategic comprehensive partnership in late 2022.

The two sides vowed to further promote political - foreign affairs, maintain regular exchanges, and concretize the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the field of defense and security.

They will seek to soon complete the goal of raising bilateral trade turnover to US$100 billion in 2023 and towards the goal of US$150 billion by 2030 in a balanced and sustainable manner.

Vietnam welcomes RoK businesses to make new investments and expand their operations in priority areas, including the building of thermal and gas power plants under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, liquefied natural gas (LNG), high-tech electronics manufacturing, semiconductors, big data, biotechnology, smart cities, as well as source technology transfer.

The two sides agreed to work closely to effectively implement the RoK’s ODA grants for Vietnam. The RoK pledged to increase non-preferential aid for Vietnam, especially in the fields of research and development (R&D) and innovation.

They welcomed the signing of a US$2 billion cooperation agreement with the Korea Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDPF) to implement large-scale development investment projects on transportation and urban infrastructure in Vietnam.

President Thuong welcomed the extension of the Memorandum of Understanding on sending and receiving Vietnamese migrant workers to work in the RoK under the Employment Permit System (EPS) Program. He agreed to facilitate the simplification of procedures for residence registration and work permits for experts and workers of one country in the other.

The two sides vowed to support ASEAN’s stance on ensuring maritime and aviation security and safety in the East Sea in accordance with international law.

President Thuong said Vietnam follows with keen interest the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and is willing to promote and participate in the denuclearization process on the Korean Peninsula.

Meanwhile, President Yoon assured that the RoK government will actively support the enhancement of security and order capacity at sea in Vietnam, and at the same time expand defense technology cooperation with Vietnam.

The two sides consented to foster cooperation in the mineral supply chain, especially in exploiting rare earth in Vietnam, and in building a core mineral supply chain center.

The two leaders underlined the need to increase cultural, education and tourism cooperation, as well as cooperation between their localities.

The RoK government will continue to expand its support for Korean language training in Vietnam and the Korean scholarship program to enhance exchanges of future generations, President Yoon said.

President Yoon announced that the RoK will support non-refundable aid worth US$200 million for the 2024-2027 period in the fields of the environment, climate change, health, education, digital transformation, among others.

He also announced a US$10 million grant for joint research projects in 10 years to support science and technology innovation in Vietnam.

The two presidents said the RoK would work more closely with Vietnam to promote the ASEAN – RoK relations and Mekong – RoK cooperation.