Prime Minister: Opening up 'new horizons of cooperation' with Vietnam

On the morning of July 1, within the framework of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to Korea, nearly 350 Korean enterprises and 180 Vietnamese enterprises and representatives of ministries and sectors attended the Vietnam - Korea Business Forum.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the forum

According to Mr. Cho Hyun-sang, Chairman of the Korea-Vietnam Economic Cooperation Committee, this large participation shows the interest in investment between businesses of the two countries.

“In early June, I watched a great football match in which Vietnam came from behind to beat the Philippines under the guidance of coach Kim Chang-Sik. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh personally went to the stadium to cheer on the players. Why can’t businessmen from both countries have such great matches based on the close cooperation between the two countries in recent times?”, Mr. Cho Hyun-sang raised the issue.

According to him, Korea and Vietnam have established an inseparable economic partnership, especially since the two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership. Exchanges between the two countries have increased in both breadth and depth. Korea has become the third largest trading partner after China and the US, and the largest FDI investor. One in four foreigners coming to Vietnam is Korean.

“Korean tourists have given Da Nang a special nickname, showing their love for Vietnamese tourism,” said Cho Hyun-sang, adding that, as the two countries have built a relationship over the past 30 years, we need to think about the direction for the next 30 years.

Mr. Cho Hyun-sang, Chairman of the Korea - Vietnam Economic Cooperation Committee

The global economic environment is in the midst of a wave of change, conflict and instability, with each country facing unprecedented new crises. Korea and Vietnam must be strategic partners to jointly find solutions to these challenges.

Mr. Ahn Duk-geun, Minister of Industry, Trade and Resources of the Republic of Korea, mentioned President Ho Chi Minh's teaching of "adapting to all changes with the unchanging" when opening his speech at the forum. According to him, since establishing diplomatic relations in 1992, the relationship between the two countries has made remarkable progress in all aspects. In particular, through the visit of the President of the Republic of Korea in June 2023, the relationship between the two countries is closer than ever.

“The 30 years of establishing diplomatic relations compared to human age is 30 years old, daring to face new challenges. This is the time to prepare for the next 30 years to expand trade and investment to increase turnover to 100 billion USD by 2025,” said Minister Ahn Duk-geun.

He said that Korean enterprises want to expand investment cooperation in the fields of infrastructure and energy. It is expected that this year, 22 memorandums of understanding will be signed, which will be the basis for expanding trade and investment between the two countries.

Mr. Ahn Duk-geun, Minister of Industry, Trade and Resources of Korea

According to Mr. Ahn Duk-geun, Vietnam has abundant resources, especially rare earth, while Korea has advantages in technology and great potential for mutual support. In addition, cooperation in the fields of energy and climate change is also promoted as Vietnam is the first country with which Korea has signed a memorandum of understanding on energy. Korea can share its experience in operating nuclear power plants, ensuring a stable supply of electricity for Vietnam.

“I would like to share with businessmen the saying that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh often mentions: work together, win together and enjoy together,” the Minister of Industry, Trade and Resources of Korea emphasized.

"Before doing business, you must be friends"

On the Vietnamese business side, Mr. Luu Trung Thai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MB Bank, also said that businesses of the two countries need to find a way to quickly implement cooperation, based on two factors.

The first is trust and cooperation like the Koreans have the motto "before doing business, you must be friends". The second is how to develop the value chain, when the trend of production shifting from China to other countries. We are ready to cooperate and point out partners who can ensure the capacity from Vietnam", Mr. Thai said.

Listening to opinions, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh once again affirmed that the relationship between the two countries is developing very strongly and "has never been as good as it is now".

With a focus on expanding investment, diversifying supply chains, production chains, and cooperation to open up new development horizons, Vietnam and Korea need to promote technology transfer, especially modern and advanced technology, to support Vietnam in participating in global supply chains and smart governance.

Many cooperation agreements were signed within the framework of the forum.

The Prime Minister also encouraged Korean businesses to invest in emerging and important fields such as digital economy, green economy, circular economy, knowledge economy, and sharing economy, because there is a lot of room for cooperation in these fields, especially in industries such as semiconductor chips, artificial intelligence, hydrogen, cultural industry, entertainment, etc.

“Let us open up new horizons of cooperation to create value for businesses, with the spirit of listening and understanding together; sharing vision, awareness and action together; working together, enjoying together, winning together and developing together,” Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called.

The head of the Vietnamese Government also emphasized that the two sides can jointly exploit and create new values ​​in the context that the two countries have different potentials, outstanding opportunities, and competitive advantages, bringing strong and prosperous development to the two countries in the spirit of "turning nothing into something, turning the impossible into possible, turning difficult into easy".

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thu-tuong-mo-ra-chan-troi-hop-tac-moi-viet-nam-han-quoc-18524070110222395.htm