Vietnamese top legislator holds talks with RoK’s counterpart

Speaker Moon Hee-sang warmly welcomed the official visit of the Vietnamese guest and hailed the robust developments in the bilateral ties especially in politics, economics, culture, and people-to-people exchanges. 

So far, Viet Nam is the fourth biggest trade partner of the RoK. In 2017, two-way trade fetched US$ 63.9 billion, a year-on-year rise of 40%. The RoK is the largest investor in Viet Nam with US$ 75 billion.

The Speaker said that President Moon Jae-in put forth the New Southern Policy after taking up office to enhance relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Viet Nam is an important country partner in various fields such as trade, investment, official development assistance, and people-to-people exchange.

The President has always treasured relations with Viet Nam, he said, adding that during his visit to Viet Nam in March 2018, the two countries’ leaders agreed to raise the bilateral trade to US$ 100 billion by 2020.

Speaker Moon Hee-sang hoped the Vietnamese National Assembly and Government will pay more attention to Korean businesses operating in the country so they can contribute to realizing the two-way trade target.

He stressed that Viet Nam is the biggest development cooperation partner of the RoK and hoped the two sides will work together to building win-win cooperation.

He also mentioned the enhancement of people-to-people exchange and the protection of the two countries’ citizens.  

In return, Chairwoman Ngan stressed that the National Assembly of Viet Nam stands ready to shake hands with its counterpart in the Republic of Korea to further increase the sound friendship and sustainable cooperation between the two parliaments, 

To realize the goal of balanced bilateral trade turnover to US$100 billion by 2020, Chairwoman Ngan proposed both sides continue maintaining bilateral cooperation mechanisms, like the joint committee on cooperation in nuclear power, energy, and industry at the ministerial level; or the Viet Nam-RoK inter-governmental committee on economic, scientific, and technological cooperation at deputy ministerial level. 

The top legislator asked the RoK side to take specific measures to help Viet Nam reduce its trade deficit with the RoK; increase its exports of farm produce, seafood, and processed foods; and join the RoK’s global production and supply chains. 

Viet Nam would create favorable conditions for RoK investors to join in the country’s key projects, as well as the equitization of state-owned enterprises and banking restructuring, while also encouraging the transfer of technology in renewable energy and working together to effectively implement the Viet Nam-RoK Free Trade Agreement and the framework agreement between the two countries for credit from the Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (EDCF) for 2016-2020, said the guest leader.

She stressed that Viet Nam highly values the RoK’s official development assistance (ODA), hoping that the RoK will continue to expand the capital in the coming time in line with particular conditions and demands of Viet Nam in priority fields like transport infrastructure and transportation technology, urban development, agriculture and rural development, high-quality human resources training, and especially the developed application of science-technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

She took this opportunity to welcome the RoK Government’s new visa policy for Viet Nam, while proposing both sides coordinate to promote tourism cooperation, facilitate the granting of visas for Vietnamese citizens, and consider the exemption of tourism visa fees for Vietnamese tourists.

Chairwoman Ngan highly values the cooperation in security and defense between the two countries, saying that the collaboration will continue to develop in a substantial and effective manner following the signing of the Viet Nam-RoK Joint Vision Statement on Defense Cooperation towards 2030 in April 2018, and the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on logistics support in the United Nations peacekeeping mission and natural disaster humanitarian support in June 2018 between the two defense ministries.

Regarding labor cooperation, the NA Chairwoman valued the RoK Government’s agreement to sign a special memorandum of understanding on labor cooperation and the renewal of the standard MoU in March 2018 on the basis of respecting relations with Viet Nam.

The top legislator recommended the two sides continue to effectively realize the MoU on dispatching and receiving Vietnamese workers and expand those eligible to work in different areas in the RoK under the Employment Permit System (EPS), as well as consider increasing the quota for Viet Nam.

At the talks, the leaders expressed their pleasure at the increasing people-to-people exchanges. The Vietnamese community in the RoK numbers nearly 197,000, including over 48,000 workers and 42,000 students. Meanwhile, around 150,000 Koreans are currently living in Viet Nam.

The two countries also boast very close ties with around 68,000 citizens having Viet Nam-RoK transnational marriages. Up to 60 cities and provinces of Viet Nam and the RoK have signed and effectively implemented their cooperation agreements.

Viet Nam appreciates the RoK’s stance on the East Sea issue, affirmed Ms. Ngan.

The top legislator asked the RoK to continue supporting the position of Viet Nam and ASEAN in maintaining peace and stability, and addressing disputes in the East Sea by peaceful measures in line with international law, with the full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) towards the conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

Regarding the relations between the two parliaments, Ms. Ngan said that the Vietnamese legislature always wishes and stays ready to closely cooperate with its RoK counterpart to support and foster the strategic cooperative partnership between the two nations.

The two sides will increase coordination and mutual support at inter-parliamentary forums, thus contributing to maintaining an environment of peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world./.

By Kim Anh