Mr Lee held talks with President Triet, paid a courtesy visit to Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and met with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. He also delivered a speech at a Vietnam-RoK economic and business forum, visited National University of Hanoi and met with students studying the Korean culture and language.     

During talks, the two presidents agreed to raise the Vietnam-RoK relationship to the strategic cooperation partnership. They said that the two countries should promote cooperation in economics, trade, investment, science-technology, the environment, culture and education.

They agreed to improve two-way trade balance, raise trade value to US$20 billion by 2015, and upgrade the Red River City project to a national-level one.

President Lee announced that the RoK government has recognised Vietnam’s market economy status and that it considers the Southeast Asian nation a key partner for cooperation and development.

The two countries released a joint statement on the establishment of their strategic cooperation partnership.