Vietnam, RoK seek to further advance ties

At the talks (Photo: VNA)

inister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son on June 23 held talks with his counterpart from the Republic of Korea Chung Eui Yong during which both sides agreed to boost the bilateral relations further.

Chung, who is on an official visit to Vietnam from June 21 – 23, congratulated Vietnam on the success of the elections of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and all-level People’s Councils for the 2021 – 2026 tenure, and highly regarded the country as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2020 – 2021 term.

He also expressed his confidence that Vietnam will achieve more successes in socio-economic development and diplomacy in the time to come.

The two FMs exchanged views on the bilateral ties and international and regional issues of mutual interest. They both reiterated the importance of maintaining and further advancing the Vietnam-RoK Strategic Cooperative Partnership.

They also expressed their delight at major achievements in bilateral cooperation in multiple fields, with regular and effective high-level exchanges and strengthened mutual trust and understanding, despite COVID-19.

Both officials agreed that the two Foreign Ministries will step up multifaceted cooperation as agreed by the two countries’ leaders so as to take the strategic cooperative partnership to a new height; further bolster high-level exchanges; strengthen concerted efforts in fighting COVID-19; expand cooperation in trade, investment and development assistance; and promote citizen protection.

They also agreed to continue working closely and effectively together at multilateral platforms, such as the United Nations and ASEAN; and promote active cooperation to enable Vietnam to fulfil its duty as a coordinator of ASEAN-RoK relations, starting in August.

They reaffirmed their support for maintaining regional peace and stability; settling international disputes, including East Sea issues, through peaceful means in line with international laws; and promoting dialogue and cooperation in the Korean Peninsula.

Son said Vietnam wants to deepen the Strategic Cooperative Partnership with the RoK, particularly as the two sides will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their diplomatic ties in 2022.

He also spoke highly of the RoK’s New Southern Policy in which Vietnam and ASEAN are viewed as key partners.

He asked the Korean side to provide Vietnamese goods, especially farm produce, with broader access to its market and enable Vietnamese firms to join RoK corporations' global supply chains, in the hope of raising the two-way trade to 100 billion USD.

Vietnam hopes to ramp up cooperation in labour, science-technology and COVID-19 vaccine R&D and production, he said, adding that Vietnam also wants help from the RoK to access vaccine supplies to soon keep the coronavirus at bay.

Chung, for his part, said the RoK government attaches importance to intensifying relations with Vietnam as part of the New Southern Policy. The RoK will be Vietnam’s close partner in its journey to accomplish socio-economic development goals, he said, expecting that Vietnam will continue creating favourable conditions for Korean investors in order to stablise supply chains amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the signing ceremony (Photo: VNA)

The two ministers later witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on COVID-19 response between the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)./.