Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam alwaysattaches importance to comprehensive and trustworthy cooperative ties with theRepublic of Korea (RoK) and is willing to work as a bridge to connect and expandASEAN-RoK relations, said Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc.

PM Phuc made the statement during a meeting inHanoi on March 23 with RoK President Moon Jae-in, who is on a State visit toVietnam from March 22-24.

He highlighted the significanceof the visit which takes place at a time when cooperative relations betweenVietnam and the RoK are developing strongly in all fields and have reaped a lotof achievements over the past 25 years in the spirit of strategic partnershipof mutual trust.

Congratulating the RoK onthe successful hosting of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics which opened upopportunities for peace dialogues, the PM expressed his hope that the upcoming high-leveltalks between the RoK and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) andbetween the DPRK and the US will be held successfully, thus promoting peace,stability and cooperation in the Korean peninsula and the world.

While stressing that Vietnamand the RoK share a range of cultural and historical similarities as well asstrategic interests, he lauded the RoK’s New Look South Policy for cooperationand peace, under which the RoK considers Vietnam a key cooperation partner.

For his part, President Moonspoke highly of the strong development of Vietnam–RoK relations, particularlyin trade, investment and culture, and affirmed that the RoK regards Vietnam as themost important nation in its New Look South Policy.

Expressing his delight atthe important achievements in the bilateral relations, particularly after theestablishment of strategic partnership, the President noted that the RoK is nowthe second biggest trade partner of Vietnam, while Vietnam is the fourth biggesttrade partner of the RoK. In 2017, Vietnam welcomed the most Korean visitorsamong Southeast Asian nations.

President Moon said duringthe visit, the two sides signed cooperation agreements on industrial and energyproduction, and organised a groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam–KoreanInstitute of Science and Technology (V-KIST).

Having expressed his pleasurewith the achievements of multifaceted cooperation between the two nations inthe past years, PM Phuc highly evaluated the contributions of RoK major groups,including Samsung, LG, and Lotte, Vietnam’s development.

He suggested the two sidestake comprehensive measures to boost economic, trade and investment ties in astable, balanced, and effective manner, thus ensuring mutual benefits andrealising the target of 100 billion USD in two-way trade in 2020.

PM Phuc asked the RoK toaddress difficulties related to quarantine of Vietnamese agricultural products,including star-apple, dragon fruits, rambutan, longan, and lychees, and openits market for Vietnamese pork and chicken in 2018.

Vietnam always fullyimplements its commitments under the Vietnam–RoK Free Trade Agreement andfacilitates the shipments of RoK agricultural products and pharmaceuticals toVietnam, he noted.

Vietnam commits to creatingfavourable conditions for RoK firms to expand their investments in Vietnam,particularly in high-tech fields, such as research and production ofsemi-conductors, electronics, supporting industry, renewable energy, organicagriculture, innovative startups, transport infrastructure projects, industrialparks, smart cities, and equitisation of state-owned enterprises and commercialbanks, the Government leader affirmed.

Vietnam wants the RoK toprovide Vietnam with preferential credit packages, and effectively implementthe financial cooperation agreement worth 12 billion USD for a number ofprojects on transport infrastructure, technology transfer, revising the agreement on avoidanceof double taxation, and help Vietnam build the e-government, he said.

PM Phuc went on to say thatVietnam expects that the RoK will receive more Vietnamese guest labourers,particularly skilled workers, adding that the two sides need to boosttechnology transfer in supporting industry, automobiles, mechanic, apparel,electronics and renewable energy sectors.

The PM expressed his hopethat the RoK Government will boost cooperation with Vietnam in culture,education, tourism and people-to-people exchanges and allow Vietnamese airlinesto increase flights and air routes to RoK localities, simplify visa grantingprocedures for Vietnamese visitors, and give more government scholarships to Vietnamesestudents.

He lauded the RoK’s effortsto build Vietnam Village in its Gyeongsangbuk province to preserve and develophistorical relic sites related to Vietnam’s Ly family in the country, andbelieved that in that spirit, the RoK President’s visit will elevate the twonations’ relations to a new height in the coming time.

President Moon highlightedthe shared love for football between the two nations and congratulated Vietnamon the recent success of the U23 football team at the AFC U23 Championship. Hehoped that Vietnam’s football will continue gaining greater achievements inregional and international events, and that both Vietnamese and Korean nationalfootball teams will compete in the World Cup.

The RoK is willing tosupport and share its experience with Vietnam in realising its goals ofmodernisation and industrialisation by 2020, he affirmed, adding that thetarget of 100 billion USD in two-way trade value in 2020 is reachable.

The RoK Government willcontinue encouraging its enterprises to invest in Vietnam, share theirexperiences and technologies to improve Vietnam’s production capacity, hepledged.

Vietnam is home to more thanhalf of RoK firms operating in Southeast Asia, the RoK President said,suggesting the Government of Vietnam and related bodies facilitate theiroperation and investment.

Sharing PM Phuc’s views onincreasing the exchange of delegations at all levels to enhance mutualunderstanding between the two nations’ people, he highlighted the huge room forVietnam-RoK cooperation and hoped that governmental agencies of the two countrieswill collaborate with each other more effectively, thus deepening bilateralrelations, for the benefits of their people and for peace and prosperity in theregion and the world.-VNA