Hanoi (VNA)– Measures to boost cooperative ties between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea(RoK) in the fields of trade, investment, labour, environment, infrastructure,science-technology, banking-finance, among others were discussed at the 17th session of the Vietnam-RoK Joint Economic Committee in Hanoi on October 23.

Vietnamese DeputyMinister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang said the RoK is a leadingpartner of Vietnam as it has registered some 66 billion USD in foreign directinvestment (FDI).

Two-way trade reachesnearly 70 billion USD each year, he said, adding Vietnam and the RoK, togetherwith some other countries, are working towards completing negotiations for theRegional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2019.

Regarding the bilateral relations, Thang said the existing cooperationmechanisms and agreements have contributed greatly to the thriving ties betweenthe two nations. However, there is huge room for them to improve their multifacetedcooperation in the time ahead, he stressed.

Meanwhile, DeputyMinister for Economic Affairs under the RoK’s Foreign Ministry Yun Kang-hyeon notedthat both nations are carrying out their cooperation commitments, which rangefrom trade, investment, technology to supporting industry and labour.

He expressed his beliefthat the bilateral collaboration will be strengthened in the coming time.

At the meeting, the twosides looked back at the first Vietnam-RoK Deputy Prime Ministers’ Dialogue onEconomic Cooperation in Seoul on June 21, 2019, during which the two nationsdiscussed and reached consensus on initiatives and cooperation contents in thespheres of trade and investment; finance – banking and development cooperation;infrastructure, construction and energy; industry, agriculture,science-technology and information and communications technology; and labourand healthcare.

They said theinitiatives have helped settle challenges and open new opportunities foreconomic cooperation between the two nations.

The two sides outlinedcooperation orientations for the coming time, and make preparations for PMNguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to the RoK on the occasion of the ASEAN-RoKCommemorative Summit in November.

Vietnam and the RoKhave witnessed robust development in their bilateral ties in the past year. Theall-round cooperation has brought benefits, and enhanced mutual understandingand trust between their people.

Last year, the Rok isthe third largest trade partner of Vietnam, just after China and the EU. It wasalso the fourth largest importer and second largest exporter of the SoutheastAsian country. Vietnam exported 18.2 billion USD to while importing 47.5billion USD worth of products from the RoK in 2018.

The escalating trade tensionsbetween the US and China, and between the RoK and Japan made two-way trade slowdown from the outset of the year. Trade revenue between the two nations totaled44 billion USD in the first eight months of the year, only increasing 2 percentas compared to the same time in 2018./.