Hanoi (VNA) – The officialvisit of Speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of the Republic of Korea (RoK)Chung Sye-kyun from April 24-26, aims to promote the strategic partnershipbetween the two nations.

The two sides will take the occasionto discuss bilateral cooperation between the two nations, the two NAs, andinternational and regional issues of common interest.

The two NAs established cooperation with anagreement inked in 2006. The document was resigned during the official visit ofVietnam’s NA delegation to RoK led by then Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung in July2013.

Over the past year, leaders of thetwo sides’ NA have visited each other at the beginning of their tenure, whileparliamentary delegation exchanges at all levels have been held with goodoutcomes.

The visit of the RoK legislativeleader is part of activities to mark the 25th anniversary ofVietnam-RoK diplomatic relations.

During the past 25 years, tiesbetween Vietnam and the RoK were upgraded to a comprehensive partnership in 2001and a strategic partnership in 2009.

The development of Vietnam – RoK relationshas affirmed the determination of the two nations’ leaders and people, and laida political foundation for raising friendship and cooperation to a new height.

Along with the strong growth inpolitical relations, the economic partnership between the two nations has alsowitnessed strong development, particularly in trade, investment, assistance,tourism and labour.

The RoK has become one of Vietnam’sleading economic partners, ranking first among investors in Vietnam, with 5,500projects, worth over 50 billion USD. Many large RoK brands have enteredVietnam, such as Samsung, Hyundai, LG, POSCO, SK, Lotte, Kumho-Asiana.

The RoK is also the second biggestprovider of official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam. The twocountries are discussing a credit framework agreement for 2016-2020, underwhich the RoK plans to provide 1.5 billion USD in ODA for Vietnam.

A number of bilateral cooperationmechanisms have been maintained, such as the Ministerial Joint Committee for NuclearPower, Energy and Industry; and the Inter-Government Committee for Vietnam –RoK Economic Cooperation.

Trade value between the two nationsreached 43.2 billion USD in 2016, up 17.7 percent from 2015. The Vietnam – RoKfree trade agreement, effective from January 20, 2015, is hoped to create a newdriving force for the two sides to realise the trade value target at 70 billionUSD by 2020 in line with the high-level agreement in 2013.

There are more than 140,000Vietnamese people in the RoK, including 50,000 labourers and 10,000 students. Aboutthe same number of RoK people are working and living in Vietnam, most of themare businessmen.

Cultural exchanges have also been heldregularly to enhance mutual understanding and trust between the two nations’people.

The two nations are also negotiating an agreement on judicialsupport in civil and trade affairs to protect the legitimate rights andinterests of each other’s individuals, organisations and businesses.-VNA