Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong highlighted the flourishing
relationship between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) in
his interview granted to the Yonhap news agency before his four-day
state visit to the country starting from October 1.
He said that since Vietnam and the RoK set up diplomatic ties in
1992 and bilateral ties were upgraded to a strategic cooperative
partnership five years ago, their relations have developed in a strong,
comprehensive and intensive manner.
In terms of economic
cooperation, the RoK is now the second biggest investor and the third
largest trade partner of Vietnam, he said, adding that the Korean
official development assistance has actively contributed to Vietnam’s socio-economic development and many RoK businesses are operating
effectively in the Southeast Asian country.
As many as 120,000 Vietnamese are living and working in the RoK, including 50,000 Vietnamese-Korean couples.
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong expressed his belief that the
friendship and strategic cooperation partnership between Vietnam and
the RoK will further develop with an increase of visits by high-ranking
leaders and close coordination at multilateral forums.
The bilateral ties will be deepened in all areas ranging from
politics-diplomacy, security and defence, economic, labour, industry and
agriculture to tourism, science-technology, education-training, and
culture.
He said his upcoming visit is aimed at further deepen the strategic partnership between the two nations.
According to the Party chief, Vietnam, located between Northeast
Asia and Southeast Asia with a population of nearly 90 million, is an
emerging economy full of development potential and opportunities, so it
is attracting much attention from foreign investors.
RoK businesses are among the most successful foreign investors in
Vietnam since their operations have not only generated profits but
also paid positive contributions to the socio-economic development in
both countries, he noted, adding that they have become an important part
of the Vietnamese economy.
Vietnam will
continue to create the best possible conditions for RoK firms’
investment, particularly in infrastructure, high and green technologies,
support industries, and agricultural and aquatic processing industries,
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong affirmed.
Regarding a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) which is now under
negotiation, the leader said the expansion of trade and investment
relations will benefit all concerned parties and effectively serve each
country’s prosperous and sustainable development targets.
The FTA, once signed, will open up a new opportunity for the two
countries to foster their mutually beneficiary economic cooperation. It
will be an important measure to realise the Vietnam-RoK joint statement
for common prosperity, he said, hoping that both sides will conclude the
FTA negotiation as soon as possible.
When asked
about Vietnam’s contribution to peace on the Korean Peninsula, the
General Secretary said Vietnam has friendship and cooperation with
both the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the RoK.
It welcomes all initiatives and efforts of the parties to ease tension
and improve their relations through dialogues, thus building a Korean
Peninsula of peace, stability, prosperity and free of nuclear
weapons, he said.
He stressed that Vietnam, within its capacity, is willing to participate in the improvement of inter-Korea relations.-VNA