Busan (VNA) – Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam NguyenThi Kim Ngan and a high-ranking NA delegation arrived in Busan city on December4, beginning her four-day official visit to the Republic of Korea(RoK) at the invitation of Speaker of the RoK National Assembly Moon Hee-sang.

Chairwoman Ngan and her entourage were welcomed by the RoK Ambassador toVietnam Kim Do-hyon, Vietnamese Ambassador to the RoK Nguyen Vu Tu, Busan ViceMayor Yoo Jae-soo, Honorary ConsulGeneral of Vietnam in Busan-Gyeongnam region Park Soo-kwan, and representativesfrom the Vietnamese community and Korean businesses in Busan city.

Vietnam and the RoK established diplomatic ties on December 22, 1992. In August2001, the two nations issued a joint statement on comprehensive partnership inthe 21st century on the occasion of the RoK visit by Vietnamese President TranDuc Luong. In October 2009, they boosted their relationship to strategiccooperative partnership level during the Vietnam visit by President LeeMyung-bak.

The two countries have contributed to forums and multilateral cooperationframeworks in the region and the world, while bilateral ties have been deepenedvia the regular exchange of high-level delegations.

Relations between the two legislatures have been nurtured bilaterally andmultilaterally. During the RoK visit by Vietnamese NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hungin July 2013, a cooperation deal between the two legislatures was signed.

Speakers of the Korean NA Chung Ui-hwa and Chung Sye-kyun visited Vietnam inMarch 2015 and April 2017, respectively, while Vietnamese NA Vice Chairman UongChu Luu visited the RoK in July 2017. The friendship parliamentarians groups ofthe two countries hold regular exchanges and activities during major festivals.

The RoK is the biggest foreign investor, the second largest supplier ofofficial development assistance (ODA) (behind Japan) and the third largesttrade partner of Vietnam, behind China and the European Union (EU). Bilateralcooperation mechanisms have been maintained such as the Vietnam-RoKInter-Governmental Committee on Economic, Scientific and TechnologicalCooperation and the Ministerial-level Inter-Committee on cooperation in nuclearpower, energy and industry.

In the first 10 months of this year, two-way trade hit 54.2 billion USD. Theenforcement of the Vietnam – RoK free trade agreement on December 20, 2015 isexpected to lift the figure to 100 billion USD by 2020.

As of October 2018, the RoK was the biggest investor among 128 countries andterritories investing in Vietnam with 7,323 projects worth 62.1 billion USD,accounting for 18.3 percent of the total figure.

In recent years, the RoK has emerged as the second largest source of touristarrivals in Vietnam, behind China. Last year, more than 2.5 million Koreantourists arrived in Vietnam, up 56 percent year-on-year. In 2017, the number ofVietnamese visitors to the RoK numbered nearly 325,000, up 29 percent annually.During the January-October period, 2.8 million Korean visitors landed inVietnam, up 48.3 percent annually, while more than 440,000 Vietnamese peoplevisited the RoK, up 37.3 percent.

The two nations signed a cultural cooperation agreement in August 1994, aMemorandum of Understanding on cooperation in culture, arts, sports and tourismin October 2008 and other agreements on youth and education exchanges. In 2006,the Korean Cultural Centre was established in Hanoi.

The two sides signed a governmental-level cooperation agreement on science andtechnology. The management board of the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park and the RoK’sChungnam Technology Science Park sealed a cooperation agreement in 2010. TheVietnam – RoK industrial technology incubator was inaugurated in 2015.

Collaboration in artificial intelligence has been strengthened via informationsharing and personnel training under curricula by the Korean IntellectualProperty Office and the International Intellectual Property Training Institute,automation in intellectual property management and the enforcement ofcommitments in the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Statistics from the Korea Immigration Service showed that there were more than190,000 Vietnamese nationals living and working in the RoK as of October 2018while about 150,000 Koreans have been in Vietnam.

Theofficial visit by NA Chairman Ngan is of significance, showing Vietnam’srespect for the Vietnam-RoK strategic cooperative partnership, and its desireto elevate the ties with the East Asian country to a new height. It alsoaffirms support to the RoK’s New Southern Policy and realises the agreementsigned between the two legislatures in July 2013.-VNA