Success of PM Pham Minh Chinh’s visit to RoK seen in five aspects

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s freshly ended four-day official visit to the Republic of Korea (RoK) was a success, as seen in five aspects, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son was quoted by the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) as telling the media

Firstly, the FM said, the visit produced many important outcomes, including the release of a joint statement with eight major contents highlighting the progress of the Vietnam-RoK relationship since its upgrade to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2022, and specific measures to promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of politics-diplomacy, trade, investment, science-technology, culture, tourism, labor, people-to-people exchange, and new collaboration areas.

Ministries, sectors and businesses of the two sides signed 40 cooperation agreements in digital transformation, renewable energy, green transition, climate change, semiconductor, artificial intelligence, collaboration among small- and medium-sized enterprises, culture, and tourism, he noted.

Secondly, the visit helped strengthen mutual political trust and reinforce the close personal relations between senior leaders of the two countries, stated FM Son, adding that the leaders affirmed their determination to realize high-level agreements and make bilateral comprehensive partnership more substantive, effective and long lasting.

According to the foreign minister, RoK leaders highlighted the similarities between the two countries in history and culture and supplementary characteristics in economy and human resources, with nearly 300,000 Vietnamese nationals residing in the RoK and 200,000 Koreans in Vietnam, along with 90,000 Vietnamese-Korean multicultural families, as a favorable factor for the close bonds and development of ties between the two countries.

Korean leaders also affirmed that Vietnam is a focus in RoK’s foreign policy in the region, including the Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative (KASI), he remarked, adding that  PM Chinh reiterated Vietnam's support for the RoK's development policies and goals, including the "Global Key Country" policy.

Thirdly, the visit yielded practical results in the fields of economy, trade and investment, contributing to implementing the action programmer reached in June 2023, FM Son said.

According to the foreign minister, Vietnam and the RoK agreed that economy is one of the leading important pillars in their cooperation, and concurred to deploy specific measures to soon realize the target of 100 billion USD in two-way trade in 2025 and 150 billion USD in 2030 towards a balanced and sustainable direction. They vowed to finalize procedures to open their respective markets for Vietnamese pomelos and Korean melons this year.

He reiterated that RoK leaders affirmed that the RoK continues to consider Vietnam a strategic partner in development cooperation, pledging to support Vietnamese firms in enhancing their capacity to engage more deeply in the production and supply chains of Korean firms; and the two sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in building stable core mineral supply chains.

At the Vietnam-RoK business forum and the seminar with leading economic groups of the RoK in energy and finance, PM Chinh witnessed the signing of 23 cooperation deals among businesses and localities of the two countries, according to the foreign minister.

He said that Korean firms highly evaluated Vietnam’s investment environment and expressed their great interest in investing in Vietnam in the fields of supporting industries, digital transformation, green economy, semiconductors, environmentally friendly energy, biotechnology, 5G network, and smart cities.

Fourthly, through the visit, the two sides promoted collaboration in human resources, labor, culture and tourism. The RoK committed to assisting Vietnam in training agricultural workers, and providing favorable conditions for Vietnamese laborers to live and work in the country, the FM stated.

He noted that Vietnam and the RoK concurred to bolster cultural, tourism and education cooperation towards the target of 5 million people engaging in people-to-people exchange. The RoK will support Vietnam to launch a consulate general in Busan in 2024 and a Vietnamese cultural center in the RoK, while helping Vietnam promote the development of cultural industries. PM Chinh suggested that the RoK simplify visa procedures and moving towards visa exemption for Vietnamese citizens.

Fifthly, the PM’s visit opened up many cooperation opportunities between the two sides across various areas such as innovation, high technology, renewable energy, digital transformation, green transformation, climate change response, semiconductors and artificial intelligence, the foreign minister stated.

According to him, the RoK agreed to consider setting up mechanisms to discuss orientations and specific projects in semiconductor, AI and innovation human resources training, and pledged to provide 30 million USD in four years for research and development projects and the second phase of the Vietnam-Korea Institute of Science and Technology (VKIST) project.

The RoK affirmed that it will support Vietnam in organizing the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) Summit in April 2025, FM Son said.

During the visit to the RoK from June 30 to July 3, PM Chinh engaged in 34 activities. He held talks with his counterpart Han Duck Soo, and had meetings with President Yoon Suk Yeol and Speaker of the RoK’s National Assembly Woo Won Shik. The PM also delivered a speech on Vietnamese policy at Seoul National University in Seoul, met with executives of a number of Korean firms, and visited a Vietnamese-Korean family, FM Son noted.