Vietnamese Prime Minister meets with Korean President
Vietnam supports the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s major policies and stays ready to continue close coordination with the RoK for the success of both nations and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at their meeting in Seoul on July 2.
Expressing his delight in paying his first official visit to the RoK in his capacity as the PM, the Vietnamese government leader informed President Yoon about the earlier fruitful talks with his Korean counterpart Han Duck-soo, including major directions to further deepen the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.
He proposed the two sides continue to maintain and increase the exchange of delegations at all levels and regularly implement existing cooperation mechanisms in diplomacy, national defence and security, in line with the level of comprehensive strategic partnership.
President Yoon, for his part, affirmed that the RoK considers Vietnam a top important partner in carrying out its regional policies, including the Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative.
A focus of the discussion was the economic relationship. Both sides committed to fostering deeper economic ties, aiming for a bilateral trade value of US$100 billion by 2025 and US$150 billion by 2030.
In such spirit, PM Chinh proposed joint efforts to attract Korean investments in key sectors like semiconductors, digital transformation, green technology and biotechnology. He urged the Korean government to prioritise high-tech and high-value-added projects, alongside workforce training in the fields of semiconductors, hydrogen energy, and artificial intelligence.
He further suggested leveraging financial instruments like the Economic Development Promotion Fund (EDPF) and the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) to support infrastructure development projects.
Acknowledging Vietnam's attractiveness for Korean investors, President Yoon proposed creating favourable conditions for Korean enterprises to participate in Vietnam's major projects, particularly in energy and liquefied natural gas.
He affirmed the RoK's commitment to assist Vietnam in training workforce for semiconductor and hi-tech industries, while also supporting the development of its cultural industry. He also pledged to support Vietnam's successful hosting of the Summit on Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) in April 2025.
The host and guest promised to expand collaboration in culture, education, tourism, locality-to-locality cooperation and people-to-people exchanges to raise mutual understanding and solidarity between the two nations, protect the legitimate rights and interests of each country's citizens in the other country, and support Vietnamese-Korean multicultural families.
Pledging mutual support at global and regional forums of mutual concern, they also voiced their consent to strengthen collaboration within ASEAN-RoK and Mekong-RoK mechanisms.
President Yoon praised Vietnam's excellent role as the coordinator for ASEAN-RoK relations and called for its support for elevating the ASEAN-RoK relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership. He also welcomed Vietnam's and ASEAN's stance on the East Sea issue to contribute to regional peace, stability and development
