Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue (Centre) delivers speech at a meeting  with Republic of Korea on June 15. — Photo VGP

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has affirmed Viet Nam's wish to elevate its comprehensive economic partnership with the Republic of Korea (RoK), during a meeting in Ha Noi yesterday.

At a roundtable on business co-operation between the two countries, he called on RoK businesses to invest more in areas such as the manufacturing industry, electronics, automobiles, and finance and banking, in addition to high quality services, creative products development and infrastructure, and start-ups.

The Deputy PM expressed the hope that investments from giant RoK groups would encourage small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as high technology firms from the country, to do more business in Viet Nam.

Addressing the meeting, the RoK's Ambassador to Viet Nam Lee Hyuk said that specific efforts should be made to seek ways to further boost bilateral ties, and suggested the creation of a co-operation axis across politics, diplomacy and security to match the sound bilateral economic ties.

He proposed that the two countries focus on partnerships in the manufacturing industry, infrastructure, information and telecommunication technology, and health care, in addition to science and technology.

Deputy PM Hue also noted that the two countries are experiencing peak development in their relationship in all fields, with the RoK being the second largest ODA provider of Viet Nam.

Since 2014, the RoK has always been the largest foreign investor in Viet Nam with total investment of over US$49 billion in 5,300 projects, he said.

In the first five months of this year, the RoK was also the largest investor with $3.4 billion pumped into 420 projects.

This shows the confidence of the RoK's businesses in Viet Nam's economic prospects, he commented.

At the same time, the RoK is the third largest trade partner of Viet Nam, with two-way trade reaching $36.5 billion last year, he added.

Deputy PM Hue also pointed out that the Viet Nam-RoK free trade agreement and the ASEAN-RoK free trade deal have laid the foundation for bilateral trade and investment ties in a win-win spirit.

Hue believed that two-way trade will reach $70 billion in 2020 in a balanced direction. Viet Nam wants to export more seafood, fruit, consumer goods, and electronic products and accessories to the RoK, he said.

Together with efforts to complete its legal system, the Vietnamese Government is working hard to stabilise the macro-economy and restructure the economy with the focus on State-owned enterprises and banking reform, alongside settling bad debts and public debts, thus creating a new status for the country to integrate into the world community and join regional and global production chains, the deputy PM said.

At the meeting, Kang Seong Cheon, a representative of the RoK's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said that it was necessary to expand investment co-operation activities to fully tap the advantages from free trade agreements, while continuing to create favourable business investment opportunities for enterprises from both countries.

The meeting was co-organised by the RoK's Embassy in Viet Nam and Maekyung Media. — VNS