Bilateral talks on railway between Vietnam and Korea

On the morning of March 31, Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh held bilateral talks with Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korea Park Sangwoo and signed a Memorandum of Understanding on railway cooperation between the two sides.

The meeting was attended by representatives of railway management agencies, construction corporations, research institutes, construction and railway operation enterprises of both countries.

The event is of great significance in the context of Vietnam and South Korea continuously strengthening their cooperative relations, especially after the visit to South Korea by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in July 2024.

Coordinated completion of 09 projects, currently implementing 06 projects

Minister Tran Hong Minh assessed that the event was an important milestone, demonstrating the good development relationship between the two countries in order to effectively and substantially implement the "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership" established since 2022; further consolidating and creating momentum for new developments in the cooperation in the fields of transport and construction between the two countries.

Over the past time, the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Korea has continuously developed and achieved remarkable results since the establishment of diplomatic relations in December 1992. Korea is currently the largest FDI investor in Vietnam, the second largest bilateral official development assistance (ODA) provider and the third largest trading partner of Vietnam.

In the field of transport alone, Korea is the second largest bilateral donor to Vietnam's transport sector. Since 1996, the Korean Government has begun providing capital support to Vietnam to develop transport infrastructure.

To date, the two sides have coordinated to complete 09 projects with a total loan value of more than 1 billion USD and are coordinating to implement 06 projects with a total loan value of nearly 600 million USD.

In the field of urban and housing development, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korea (MOLIT) has actively cooperated, supported training, and shared experiences with the Ministry of Construction of Vietnam in the process of researching and developing the Housing Law and the Real Estate Business Law 2023. With the increasingly improved legal system, it has created favorable conditions for domestic and foreign enterprises to invest and do business in Vietnam.

Korean enterprises have achieved many successes in investing in developing new modern and smart urban areas such as Starlake urban area in Hanoi, Nha Be urban area project in Ho Chi Minh City. The Korea Land and Housing Corporation has signed many cooperation agreements with Vietnamese localities to implement the Urban Growth Partnership Program (UGPP), the two sides have successfully cooperated to implement 03 ODA projects providing technical assistance on smart urban areas and social housing.

Ready to share experiences on high-speed rail

Minister of MOLIT Park Sangwoo shared that MOLIT was established in 1997, based on the merger of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Infrastructure. The merger has created a strong and effective operating apparatus; continuing to achieve many new results in the field of infrastructure and transport.

Regarding the railway sector, Minister Park Sangwoo said that Korea has gone from using foreign technology to building high-speed railways to now being technologically self-sufficient, successfully developing high-speed railways, exporting high-speed railway technology and becoming the world's fourth largest manufacturer of locomotives and high-speed railway cars.

Minister Park Sangwoo affirmed that with the experience of Korea, the Ministry of MOLIT is ready to share experiences and cooperate with Vietnam in implementing the North-South High-Speed ​​Railway project, which has just been approved by the Vietnamese National Assembly for investment in November 2024. In addition, the Ministry of MOLIT also hopes to have more cooperation projects in the field of construction and transportation.

Promote cooperation initiatives and cooperation projects

Minister Park Sangwoo said that the Korean Government has established two foreign assistance funds for countries, in which it has committed to support Vietnam with 4 billion USD, the largest scale compared to other countries. Therefore, in the fields under the responsibility of the two ministries, the two ministries need to make more efforts to organize forums and initiatives to implement appropriate projects to use the above capital.

Regarding the issues of concern to the Korean side, Minister Tran Hong Minh highly appreciated the proposal of the Ministry of MOLIT, and hoped that Korean agencies would continue to support the Vietnamese side in sharing experiences in receiving and mastering high-speed railway development technology and developing the railway industry, organizing the operation of freight transport (organizing loading and unloading of goods; organizing train operations) on high-speed railways.

Minister Tran Hong Minh added that the Ministry of Construction was also assigned to preside over the preparation of investment in the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh urban railway line, which is about 42 km2 long, designed as a double track, transporting passengers from Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai province to Long Thanh international airport with a total estimated investment of about 3.5 billion USD. Recently, the Ministry of Construction reported to the Prime Minister to transfer this project to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee for investment. This is a railway line with independent exploitation, with priority given to mobilizing investment resources according to the planning in the immediate period. If the Korean side is interested, they can proactively work with Ho Chi Minh City.

In addition, Minister Tran Hong Minh supports and encourages Korean enterprises to participate in investing in urban development projects in Vietnam. Enterprises need to proactively work with local authorities on specific projects...

At the end of the talks, Minister Tran Hong Minh and Minister Park Sangwoo signed a Memorandum of Understanding on railway cooperation between the two sides, marking the establishment of a foundation, bringing the cooperation between Vietnam and Korea in the railway sector to a new height.

Source: https://vr.com.vn/tin-tuc--su-kien/hoi-dam-song-phuong-ve-duong-sat-giua-viet-nam-va-han-quoc.html