Party General Secretary and State President Nguyễn Phú Trọng meets Speaker of the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s National Assembly Park Byeong-seug in Hà Nội on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo Trí Dũng

Party General Secretary and State President Nguyễn Phú Trọng met with visiting Speaker of the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s National Assembly Park Byeong-seug in Hà Nội on Monday.

The host leader highly valued his guest’s selection of Việt Nam as the first Asian country to visit since he took office, which he said reflected the special importance the RoK attaches to Việt Nam and bilateral relations.

He expressed his delight at the strong, substantive and effective strides in relations between the two countries, including between their parliaments, which clearly demonstrated the spirit of the Việt Nam -RoK strategic cooperative partnership.

He affirmed Việt Nam’s consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace and development, multilateralisation and diversification of foreign relations; promoting ties with partners in a result-orientated manner, especially neighbouring, regional, and strategic partners such as the RoK; actively and proactively integrating into the world; and making responsible contributions to regional and international issues.

Speaker Park said his country always treasured the strategic cooperative partnership with Việt Nam, stressing the Southeast Asian nation held an important position in its foreign policy for the region.

The RoK always supported Việt Nam’s development and wished to develop bilateral ties extensively, substantively and effectively in all aspects, via all channels and at all levels, he stressed.

The guest also highly valued the active, effective and responsible activities of Việt Nam as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021 and the Chair of ASEAN in 2020, as well as its hosting of the second summit between the US and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in Hà Nội.

Park pledged continuation of close coordination with Việt Nam at multilateral and international inter-parliamentary forums for the sake of regional and global peace, stability, development and prosperity.

He also wished the Communist Party of Việt Nam a successful 13th national congress in early 2021.

 Meeting with Prime Minister

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has suggested increasing two-way trade between Việt Nam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) to US$100 billion from $68 billion in 2019.

During a reception for visiting Speaker of the RoK National Assembly Park Byeong-Seug on the same day, the PM said he hoped the RoK would buy more Vietnamese products, especially farm produce and consumer goods.

The Vietnamese PM welcomed the visit by the RoK leader since the COVID-19 outbreak and expressed his belief that the visit would be a success, contributing to further deepening bilateral strategic cooperative partnership.

He affirmed that Việt Nam consistently followed the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of ties, integrating deeper into the world economy, and wished to further expand its strategic cooperative partnership with the RoK.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc meets Speaker of the RoK National Assembly Park Byeong-Seug in Hà Nội on Monday. VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

Việt Nam is a key partner in the RoK Government’s New Southern Policy, while the RoK continues to be a significant partner to Việt Nam, the largest investor and the second largest trade partner and supplier of official development assistance (ODA), and the leading recipient of Vietnamese workers, according to the Vietnamese leader.

He attributed such results to the support of the top RoK legislator, parliament committees and parliamentarians.

Park congratulated Việt Nam on achieving the dual goal of fighting the pandemic and achieving positive economic growth.

As the two countries will celebrate the 30th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties in 2022, he said it would be a good time to upgrade bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

The host expressed his hope that the RoK NA Speaker and his parliament would continue encouraging Korean firms to enhance investment in Việt Nam.

The Vietnamese Government was ready to create favourable conditions for RoK firms to expand business operations and facilitate Vietnamese enterprises’ access to technological transfers and global supply chains by Korean corporations, he said.

Regarding the further promotion of ODA, the PM hoped the RoK would continue to support the removal of binding conditions for preferential loans and expand non-refundable aid to Việt Nam.

Appreciating the effectiveness of current labour cooperation models, especially seasonal labour between the two countries, PM Phúc asked Speaker Park Byeong-seug and his National Assembly to actively urge the RoK Government to create favourable conditions for new Vietnamese workers to come to the RoK and find solutions to facilitate the granting of visas to Vietnamese short-term labourers so that they soon come to work in the country.

He proposed the top RoK legislator urge the Ministry of Employment and Labour to extend the Memorandum of Understanding on sending and receiving workers.

He also hoped the RoK National Assembly and authorities would support Vietnamese brides to integrate well into the Korean society and create conditions for Vietnamese-Korean multicultural families to stabilise their lives here.

The two sides needed to strengthen coordination on multilateral forums, especially within the framework of the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC),  and the Mekong-RoK Cooperation, as well as inter-parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) and the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum  (APPF), he said.

PM Phúc asked the RoK to support Việt Nam in fulfilling its role as ASEAN Chair in 2020 and as a coordinator of ASEAN-RoK relations for 2021-2024; and continue backing the viewpoints of Việt Nam and ASEAN on the East Sea issue.

Agreeing with the host leader’s opinion, Park affirmed that the RoK considered Việt Nam a key partner in the New Southern Policy and one of the most important partners in ASEAN.

He said that the RoK would continue to share experiences, transfer technology, and create conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to participate in global value chains of Korean enterprises.

The RoK National Assembly would urge the Korean Government to pay attention to helping Vietnamese agricultural products enter the local market, while promoting ODA projects and concessional loans for Việt Nam.

The legislature would propose the RoK Government soon extend the Memorandum of Understanding on sending and receiving Vietnamese labourers, he said, adding that it would also pay heed to ensuring the best conditions for the Vietnamese community to live safely and stably in the RoK.

Park stated that his country agreed with Việt Nam's stance and position on the East Sea issues, including ensuring security, safety, freedom of navigation, and respect for international law.

Expressing thanks to the Vietnamese Government for facilitating Korean personnel to enter Việt Nam amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he suggested that Việt Nam soon build a fast entry process for citizens of the two countries. He also hoped that some international routes between the two countries would be soon resumed.

He added that some Korean banks were looking forward to receiving licences to do business in Việt Nam so that they can support Korean businesses here.