The 18th Vietnam-RoK Economic Committee Meeting. — VNA Photo
Viet Nam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) sought measures to strengthen bilateral ties in a wide range of fields during the 18th Vietnam-Korea Economic Committee Meeting held online on Tuesday.
The meeting was co-organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the RoK's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and relevant agencies from the two countries.
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong placed emphasis on the strong development of Vietnam-RoK ties across fields, to the benefit of both sides.
Echoing Phuong’s view, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs at the RoK Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lee Seong-ho said Vietnam and the RoK have cooperated fruitfully in areas such as industry-energy, infrastructure-transport-construction, agriculture, consular affairs-justice, finance-banking, science-technology, information-telecommunications, culture-sports-tourism, education, natural resources, and the environment.
The RoK was Viet Nam's third-largest trade partner last year, after China and the US, fourth-largest export market, and second-largest import source. Viet Nam exported 19.7 billion USD worth of goods to the RoK and imported 47 billion USD worth.
Two-way trade stood at 47.5 billion USD in the first nine months of this year, down 5.1 per cent year-on-year, of which export revenue was 14.5 billion USD, down 2.1 per cent, and import value 33 billion USD, down 6.5 per cent.
Many at the meeting proposed that the RoK help Vietnamese agricultural products and food penetrate into the country, thus raising bilateral trade to 100 billion USD and that the RoK end its imposition of anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese plywood.
As of October, the RoK had some 8,900 valid projects in Viet Nam, valued at about 70.4 billion USD, ranking it first in terms of both project numbers and registered capital.
RoK firms contributed about 30 per cent of Viet Nam's export value in the first nine months.
Viet Nam, meanwhile, has invested in 49 projects worth 35.24 million USD in the RoK, primarily in science-technology, mining, and processing and manufacturing.
The RoK Government has asked local firms to consider investing in Viet Nam, especially in fields the Southeast Asian country has prioritised, such as high-tech, electronics, renewable energy, infrastructure, high-quality agriculture, healthcare, biology, and tourism.
Viet Nam has remained the RoK’s priority development aid recipient, with about 20 per cent of the total to date. — VNA/VNS