National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân meets Speaker of the Republic of Korea Park Park Byeong-seug who is on official visit to Việt Nam yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đức

Việt Nam is ready to expand bilateral relations with the Republic of Korea (RoK), deepening the cooperation between the two countries as well as the two National Assemblies in all fields, said NA Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân.

She made the statement at a meeting with Speaker of RoK National Assembly Park Byeong-seug in Hà Nội yesterday.

Việt Nam attaches great importance to developing relations and cooperation with the RoK, considering RoK an important and long-term partner, Ngân said.

The two countries share many similarities and have common interests.

“Given the context that the COVID-19 pandemic is raging around the world, the visit to Việt Nam by the speaker of RoK National Assembly is a clear demonstration of the success of the two countries in preventing and fighting the pandemic. It also demonstrates the political confidence of leaders of the two countries,” Ngân said.

She expressed her gratitude to the leaders and people of RoK for giving a US$300,000 aid package to the National Steering Committee for natural disaster prevention to overcome consequences of recent storms and floods in some central provinces of Việt Nam.

The speaker of the RoK National Assembly said that the relations between the two countries have witnessed many achievements since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries still have many extensive exchanges to further promote economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges of the two countries, including the exchange between experts and enterprises, he said.

He said the RoK wished to further step up the special immigration process between the two countries, soon opening routes for citizens to travel in parallel with the existence of COVID-19 prevention.

Regarding economic-trade-investment cooperation, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân expressed her pleasure that South Korea maintained its leading position among 136 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam with total registered capital of $70.2 billion, with nearly 9,000 valid projects.

South Korea continues its position as an important partner of Việt Nam, ranking first in investment, second in ODA and trade, and one of the key tourist markets of Việt Nam. South Korea is the second largest market for Vietnamese labourers.

Ngân said Việt Nam highly appreciated the fact that the South Korean Ambassador to Việt Nam and the Korean business organisations in Việt Nam had coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other ministries of Việt Nam to connect and promote economic cooperation between South Korean organisations and businesses with Vietnamese localities and enterprises.

She suggested the South Korean side give priority to promote the early completion of procedures allowing Vietnamese dragon fruit to be exported to South Korea; create favourable conditions for products processed from pork and chicken of Việt Nam to be exported to the South Korean market. She also hoped South Korea will transfer factory inspections to the Vietnamese side for mango products.

Regarding labour cooperation, there are currently many models of labour cooperation between the two countries and these models are effective, especially the model of seasonal labour cooperation.

Ngân asked the South Korean Government to create favourable conditions for foreign workers who had been recruited from the beginning of 2020, including more than 4,000 Vietnamese workers, to come and work in South Korea.

Speaker of RoK's National Assembly Park Byeong-seug said South Korean leaders would work on this matter, while appreciating the contribution of Vietnamese workers in South Korea for the country’s economic development. South Korea will also work to have appropriate support for Vietnamese brides in this country.

Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân welcomed the opening of the Consulate General in Đà Nẵng to help strengthen cooperation between the central provinces of Việt Nam with the South Korean side.

Regarding security and defence cooperation, National Assembly Chairman Ngân said that the National Assembly of Việt Nam supports the two Governments to cooperate in this field.

Regarding the South China Sea (called East Sea in Viet Nam) issue, the two leaders affirmed the importance of ensuring peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, and peacefully settling disputes in compliance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).

Regarding the relationship between the two National Assembly, the two National Assembly presidents said the two National Assemblies maintained good cooperation to support and promote the development of a strategic cooperation partnership.

Parliamentary diplomacy channels of the two countries have contributed to enhancing political trust, people-to-people exchanges, expanding and enhancing the efficiency of cooperation in all fields, sharing regional and national issues.

The two sides will promote the roles of the two parliaments and expand effective information exchange activities. 

On the same day, Speaker of RoK's National Assembly Park Byeong-seug met with Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc.