More than 700 businesses from Vietnam and South Korea attended a business forum in Seoul on November 28, reported the Vietnam News Agency.
At the event, 33 cooperation documents were handed over to Korean investors who plan to invest US$19.35 billion in Vietnam in the time ahead.
Of the sum, the investors intend to pour US$15.135 billion into the capital city of Hanoi, focusing on such fields as urban and industrial infrastructure development, green and smart city building, shopping center and hotel complex, and hi-tech agriculture.
In his speech, Korean Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki said Vietnam is a key partner in the RoK’s New Southern Policy.
The Korean government will create the best possible conditions and work closely with the Vietnamese government to boost investment and trade activities, he added. It vows to also tackle the difficulties facing cooperation projects in order to speed up their execution.
For his part, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who was on an official visit to the RoK, briefed local businesses about major economic achievements of Vietnam recently, vowing to create optimal conditions for Korean investors to carry out projects, thus contributing to economic development in both nations.
He took the occasion to introduce Vietnam’s potential fields for investment, including processing and supporting industries, energy, finance, education, healthcare, transport, logistics, and shipbuilding.
During the trip, Hanoi officials also had a meeting with businesses of the RoK to introduce the Vietnamese capital’s investment climate and opportunities for Korean investors here.
Earlier, South Korean President Moon Jae-in held talks with the Vietnamese leader in Seoul on November 27.
PM Phuc expressed his pleasure at the thriving strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and South Korea, saying Vietnam attaches great importance to the relationship and pledges to join closely with South Korea to advance these ties in the coming years.
The leaders agreed to consolidate and enhance mutual understanding and trust, conduct regular exchanges of delegations and meetings between leaders at both central and local levels, and effectively maintain ministerial-level dialogue mechanisms in diplomacy, national security and defense.
They reiterated the common goal of balancing the two-way trade, and agreed to raise bilateral trade turnover to US$100 billion next year.
PM Phuc also called upon South Korea to assist Vietnamese exporters of farm produce and seafood to the Northeast Asian country.
He lauded South Korea as Vietnam’s largest foreign investor, actively contributing to the country’s socio-economic development, and called upon Korean firms to increase investments in high-tech, support and auto industries.
The two sides also agreed to form their partnership in development cooperation and effectively implement the official development assistance package of US$1.5 billion that South Korea has committed to for the 2016-2020 period.
President Moon congratulated Vietnam on becoming a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure and ASEAN Chair 2020, and affirmed that his country would coordinate with Vietnam in their fulfilling these important roles.
After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of cooperation documents, including a protocol amending the double taxation avoidance agreement, an MOU on cooperation in navigation and crew training, an MOU on cooperation between the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency and the Korea Trade Promotion Agency, an MOU on cooperation to expand the capacity of the Vietnam Development Bank between the Vietnam Finance Ministry and the Korea Development Bank.
As of October 2019, firms from South Korea set up more than 8,200 projects worth US$66.62 billion in Vietnam, thereby taking the lead among the 132 countries and territories which set up shop in the country.
On the other hand, Vietnamese firms are involved in 40 projects worth US$23.8 million in South Korea.
