Vietnam President leaves for visit to South Korea
Hanoi, The Gulf Observer: Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam left Hanoi on December 4 morning for a state visit to the Republic of South Korea (RoK).
The visit from December 4-6 is made at the invitation of RoK President Yoon Suk Yeol.
President Phuc is the first foreign senior leader to pay a state visit to the RoK since President Yoon took office, showing the RoK’s appreciation of its ties with Vietnam with the Vietnamese President being welcomed with the highest rites.
The visit takes place at a time when the two countries are celebrating the 30th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties, are entering a pivotal period to carry out their own development strategies, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected to usher in new chapter in bilateral ties.
Vietnam and the RoK established their diplomatic relations on December 22, 1992 but they had engaged in cooperative activities earlier. In August 2001, the two nations issued a joint statement on the comprehensive partnership in the 21st century on the occasion of Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong’s visit to the RoK.
In October 2009, the bilateral ties were upgraded to a strategic cooperative partnership during the Vietnam visit by President Lee Myung-bak.On political, national defence-security cooperation, the exchange of delegations and bilateral meetings have been maintained in both online and in-person formats.
As of September 2022, the RoK remained the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam with US$80.52 billion, accounting for 18.6 per cent of the total investment in the country.
With $1.2 billion in preferential loans from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) for 2012-2015 and $1.5 billion for 2016-2020, the RoK was the second biggest provider of official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam. The RoK was also the third biggest trade partner of Vietnam with two-way trade of $66.65 billion in 2019, $65 billion in 2020 and $78 billion in 2021.
