The visit aims to boost cooperation between the two countries in investment, trade, tourism and labour.
Vietnam and the RoK set up diplomatic relations on December 22, 1992 and after a milestone visit by State President Tran Duc Luong in 2001, a bilateral agreement was made for a “comprehensive partnership in the 21st century”.

The RoK is one of Vietnam’s biggest economic partners, ranking fourth in both foreign direct investments and trade revenues, with its FDI totalling US$16.2 billion and two-way trade revenues hitting almost US$10 billion in 2008.

The East Asian country has continued to give Vietnam priority status for official development assistance (ODA) with its commitments reaching US$286 million for 2008 or 2.5 times more than the previous year’s figure. Its ODA commitment to Vietnam comes to US$1 billion for the 2008-11 period.

The RoK is Vietnam’s third largest labour market and is home to some 54,000 guest workers from the Southeast Asian country.

The cultural and educational sector has also witnessed a number of signed accords on culture, arts and sports as well as regular exchanges of visits, joint art performances and film festivals. The RoK Government, its universities and organisations have funded a host of projects to upgrade Vietnam’s educational facilities while an estimated 2,500 Vietnamese students are studying in the East Asian country.

After the visit to the RoK, PM Dung will attend a summit on the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the ASEAN-RoK dialogue partnership.

He is expected to raise support for stronger relations between the 10 member grouping and one of the top three economic powers in Asia.

He is also likely to ask the RoK to increase its assistance to ASEAN countries, to narrow the development gap and improve their capacity to cope with global challenges more efficiently.

The RoK’s relationship with ASEAN has developed well ever since 2004 when a joint statement on a comprehensive partnership was signed.

Bilateral trade revenues reached US$90.2 billion in 2008, making the RoK one of ASEAN’s most important economic partners.

The RoK is also actively helping ASEAN implement its plans to create an ASEAN Economic Community.