Seoul (VNA) – The upcoming State visit to Vietnam by theRepublic of Korea (RoK) President Moon Jae-in will be a good chance for leadersof the two countries to review achievements of bilateral relations in the past25 years and sketch out plans for future cooperation, stated VietnameseAmbassador to the RoK Nguyen Vu Tu.

In an interview with Vietnam News Agency’s correspondents in Seoul, thediplomat said that since the two sides set up diplomatic relations in December1992, great progress has been seen in Vietnam-RoK ties in all fields frompolitics, defence and security to culture, sports, tourism and people-to-peopleexchange.

The RoK has become the biggest foreign investor of Vietnam by pouring 57.6billion USD of capital into the country as of 2017. The RoK is also Vietnam’ssecond largest partner in terms of trade, tourism and development assistance.Last year, two-way trade revenue reached 61.5 billion USD, while more than 2.4 millionRoK tourists visited Vietnam.

Currently, more than 150,000 Vietnamese and RoK citizens reside in eachother’s country.

The visit, from March 22-24 at the invitation of President Tran DaiQuang, is the first State visit of President Moon to Vietnam and his secondarrival to the Southeast Asian country after the leader’s attendance in theAPEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Vietnam in November 2017.

After taking office in May 2017, President Moon sent special envoys to someASEAN countries, including Vietnam, which shows his attention to the country,said Ambassador Tu.

The diplomat said that the visit takes place at a time when thestrategic partnership between the two sides is thriving. He added that there isroom for both sides to expand ties.

Vietnam is always keen on fostering friendship with the RoK, while theRoK is implementing its New Southern Policy aiming to lifting up the ASEAN-RoK relationshipto a new height, he noted.

Prior to the visit, on March 8-10, RoK Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-whaalso toured Vietnam.

Noting the similarities between the two nations and sound sentimentstowards each other, the diplomat expressed his belief that the visit will befruitful, reinforcing political trusts between senior leaders and friendshipbetween peoples of both sides.

“I believe that the future of the Vietnam-RoK relations in the next 25years will be brighter,” he declared.

The ambassador asserted that with the bilateral free trade agreement thathas been effective since 2015, the two sides should expand their trade andinvestment partnership, striving to raise two-way trade to 100 billion USD by2020, along with promoting trade balance.

The RoK should import more products from Vietnam and encourage its smalland medium-sized enterprises to invest in infrastructure, high technology andrenewable energy in Vietnam, while paying more attention to transferringtechnology and developing the support industry, creating opportunities forVietnamese firms to join global production and supply chains, he held.

Ambassador Tu also suggested that the two sides coordinate inimplementing reached agreements, including the 1.5 billion USD EconomicDevelopment Cooperation Fund in 2016-2020, a 12 billion USD credit programmewithin bilateral financial cooperation and a project to build a Vietnam-RoKInstitute of Science and Technology.

They should continue focusing on labour cooperation, while promotingpeople-to-people exchange, said Ambassador Tu.

Along with creating favourable conditions for students of both sides tostudy in each other’s country, the two countries should expand coordinationamong civil organisations, he added.

He also pledged that the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK will work withlocal agencies, organisations and localities to bolsters people-to-peoplecontacts, and organise Vietnamese language courses for overseas Vietnamesechildren in the RoK.-VNA