Hamburg (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hadofficial meetings with President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Moon Jae-in andPrime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull on July 7 on the fringe of the G20Summit in Hamburg, Germany.

On behalf of President Tran Dai Quang, PM Phucinvited the RoK and Australian leaders to attend the 25th APEC EconomicLeaders’ Meeting slated for this November in Vietnam. They thanked and acceptedthe invitation with pleasure.

He highly valued the RoK President sending aspecial envoy to Vietnam shortly after he was sworn into office, saying themove showed that President Moon attached importance to the two countries’strategic partnership.

The two sides agreed to increase high-rankingvisits and meetings amid the 25th founding anniversary of their diplomatic tiesthis year. The countries will bolster cultural exchanges and economic, tradeand investment cooperation in order to raise bilateral trade to 100 billion USDin 2020.

Highlighting the RoK’s role as the biggestinvestor and the third largest trade partner of Vietnam, PM Phuc asked the RoKto import more advantageous products of Vietnam, like agro-forestry-fisheryproducts, and to work closely with his country to effectively implement theVietnam-RoK Free Trade Agreement.

He also asked the Northeast Asian nation tocontinue helping Vietnam take part in the RoK’s global supply chains, payattention to technology transfer and support industries in Vietnam, and supportVietnam to access concessional loans of the International DevelopmentAssociation after 2017. He also hoped the country will help Vietnamese womenwho married RoK citizens better integrate into the local society.

For his part, President Moon pledged to orderrelevant agencies of the RoK to review and promote the implementation ofVietnam’s cooperation suggestions. He added that the RoK Government will bettercare for the Vietnamese women marrying RoK citizens so that they can integrateinto the local society more easily and become part of his country’s culturaldiversity.


At another meeting, PM Phuc and his Australiacounterpart Malcolm Turnbull expressed their delight at the strong progress intheir countries’ relations, discussing ways to strengthen the enhancedcomprehensive partnership.

They agreed to continue reinforcing politicaltrust through all-level delegation exchanges, especially at high levels.

Turnbull invited the Vietnamese PM to attend theASEAN-Australia Special Summit in 2018 and visit Australia on this occasion.

The Government leader of Vietnam laudedAustralia’s assistance to his country in such fields as climate changeresponse, reform-innovation, startup support, and improvement of the privatesector’s capacity.

He said the potential for bilateral economic-tradecooperation remains huge, asking Australia to facilitate the entry ofVietnamese products into the country, especially tropical fruits and aquaticproducts.

PM Turnbull stressed Australia wants to lift itsrelations with Vietnam to a strategic partnership, adding that the more than200,000 Vietnamese-Australians and 25,000 Vietnamese students in Australiaprovide a very important foundation for bilateral ties.

He also emphasised that his country will keepsupporting Vietnam to successfully organise the APEC Year 2017.

Regarding the East Sea issue, the Australian andRoK leaders echoed Vietnam’s viewpoints on the importance of maintaining peace,stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation in and overflight overthe East Sea, and on the peaceful settlement of disputes on the basis ofinternational law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Also on July 7, PM Phuc had brief talks withTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Senegalese President Macky Sall,Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, and the head of theSaudi Arabian delegation.-VNA