Attending the meeting and witnessing the signing ceremony on the side of Vietnam were Mr. Nguyen Van Thao - Assistant of Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Pham Viet Hung - Deputy Director of the Northeast Asia Department (Ministry of Foreign Affairs); Mr. Nguyen Tien Thanh - Director of Department of International Cooperation (Vietnam Social Security); representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Social Insurance Newspaper.

General Director of Vietnam Social Insurance Nguyen Thi Minh and Mr. Shim Kyung Woo - President of KCOMWEL signed the Memorandum of Cooperation

This is a sideline activity of the General Director of Vietnam Social Security Nguyen Thi Minh during the visit to accompany Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the 30th Anniversary Summit of ASEAN-Korea and Mekong-Korea Dialogue Relations and paid an official visit to Korea from November 24th to November 28th, 2019.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Shim Kyung Woo - Chairman of KCOMWEL expressed his pleasure to welcome General Director Nguyen Thi Minh and the delegation of Vietnam Social Security. According to Mr. Shim Kyung Woo, in recent years, the two agencies have cooperated and shared experiences in many fields, including occupational accident insurance, bringing many results and contributing to ensuring social security in each country.

“I have studied about Vietnam and the Korean Government is also very interested in insurance. In recent years, we have shared our experience with Vietnam to organize training courses and improve the professional capacity for employees of Vietnam Social Security”- Mr. Shim Kyung Woo shared.

Also according to Mr. Shim Kyung Woo, Vietnam's economy is developing strongly; along with a fact that the world labor market is changing very quickly. That requires countries to make efforts to ensure social security for people and employees. Therefore, the two agencies should further strengthen cooperation in this area, ensuring that they are in line with the global social security development trend.

Mr. Shim Kyung Woo highly appreciated the opportunity to cooperate with Vietnam Social Security

On behalf of Vietnam Social Security, General Director Nguyen Thi Minh thanked Mr. Shim Kyung Woo - Chairman of the Welfare and Compensation Agency for Korean employees as well as colleagues at KCOMWEL for coordinating to prepare the Signing Ceremony for the Memorandum of Understanding in the period of 2020-2025 in Busan - the beautiful and hospitable port city in Korea.

“As we all know, Vietnam-Korea bilateral relations have made good developments on the basis of a long tradition of friendship and cooperation and the similarity in history and culture between the two countries. Our meeting here is one of the practical activities to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the two countries upgrading their relationship to a strategic cooperation partner in 2009; welcoming the ASEAN-Korea Summit"- General Director Nguyen Thi Minh shared.

General Director Nguyen Thi Minh affirmed the important significance of signing the Memorandum of Understanding

General Director Nguyen Thi Minh said that, thanks to the efforts of the social insurance industry and the consensus, response and active participation of people, the implementation of social insurance policy in Vietnam in recent years has achieved important results, aiming at building a fair, modern and effective social insurance system in line with the trend of international integration. Therefore, the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the two agencies in Busan city today is very important, marking a new and good start in cooperation, enhancing the effectiveness of the implementation of social insurance policies, especially in the field of occupational accident and diseases.

“Vietnam Social Security with the role of Chairman of ASEAN Social Security Association for the term of 2018-2019, member of Asian Workers Compensation Association (AWCA), the official and the only member in Vietnam of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) will promote the role of bridging and integrating cooperation activities with KCOMWEL and other partners in Korea, international organizations, and social security agencies in the region to create strength and develop together. I believe that, with the joint efforts of the parties, in the coming time, we will witness the initial achievements of this important cooperation.”- General Director Nguyen Thi Minh emphasized.

Mr. Kim Young Jun, Director of the Institute for Welfare and International Relations (KCOMWEL) also said: During the cooperation process, Vietnam Social Security has repeatedly sent officials to attend short-term and special courses in Korea; KCOMWEL also sent experts to participate in seminars organized by Vietnam Social Security. At the same time, the two sides made mutual visits to promote the enhanced cooperative relationship. Thereby, it helps to exchange information and experience to support improving work performance, as well as sharing comments on future development directions.

Mr. Kim Young Jun presented the cooperation plan in the coming time

Regarding the future plan, according to Mr. Kim Young Jun, the two sides need to shift to medium and long-term training programs based on intensive policy needs, instead of short-term training programs, which only included sharing knowledge merely. In addition, the cooperation platform to create sustainable growth should be enhanced; networking between trainees who have completed the training courses should be supported; common management processes to manage future achievements should be developed; the fields of multilateral cooperation connecting with organizations such as ISSA and AWCA should be expanded.

Giving information at the signing ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Tien Thanh - Director of International Cooperation Department (Vietnam Social Security) said: The negotiation of Social Insurance Agreement between Vietnam and South Korea has been conducted since December 2015 and has gone through 4 rounds of negotiation. Vietnam Social Security cooperates with the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and relevant ministries and sectors to participate in the negotiation process, aiming at the common goal of implementing social insurance policies in the two countries, ensuring compliance with the provisions of laws of each country, in accordance with international practices.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Thanh affirmed that KCOMWEL continues to be an important partner of Vietnam Social Security

Vietnam Social Security currently has a cooperation relationship with Korean social security partners, in which KCOMWEL is a traditional partner, with strengths in IT systems serving social security, customer care systems and experience in implementing insurance and benefits for employees suffering from occupational accidents and diseases; effectively operating the rehabilitation system for employees.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Vietnam Social Security and KCOMWEL, the two sides will discuss and cooperate in priority areas including: The implementation of compensation regime for employees and insurance premiums; payment and management of occupational accident and disease benefits, medical care, rehabilitation and benefits for employees suffering from occupational accidents; communication and IT, services that meet customer satisfaction and service quality monitoring, operational management and control, including training for employees, training on internal audit and real research current compensation insurance regime for employees. In addition to the above mentioned priority cooperation directions, the parties can expand the areas of cooperation mentioned in the Memorandum, etc.

Witnessing and speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Van Thao, Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, said: The memorandum of cooperation between the two agencies signed today is meaningful to humanity, which helps to care for people, especially employees and contribute to promoting cooperation between the two countries in the context of increasing labor mobility. This is also the result of the cooperation process between the two agencies during the past 10 years, along with the deep cooperation between the two countries at the present time.

“We affirm the support and assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the cooperation between Vietnam Social Security and KCOMWEL. Today's memorandum is more meaningful when it is signed on the occasion of ASEAN-Korea and Mekong-Korea Summit and the official visit to Korea of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.”- Mr. Thao emphasized.