Seoul (VNA)ꦺ – Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Tran Sy Thanh had meetings with senior officials as well as representatives of several major enterprises of the Republic of Korea during his working visit to the Northeast Asian country from October 19-22.

During his meeting with Speaker of the RoK's National Assembly Woo Won Shik, Thanh affirmed the RoK is Vietnam's leading important partner in various fields, ranking first in terms of direct foreign investment in Vietnam, second in provision of official development assistance (ODA) and third in trade. The RoK is also Vietnam's largest source market of tourists, with over 1,000 direct flights monthly between the two countries, he said. Thanh reiterated Hanoi’s commitment to nurturing ties with the RoK’s localities, fostering cooperation in key areas such as the economy, tourism, culture, education, and environmental protection. He pledged to create favourable conditions for Korean businesses and nationals in Hanoi, while boosting cultural, locality-to-locality and people-to-people exchanges and tourism cooperation, thereby increasing understanding and creating a foundation for the sustainable of ties between the two nations. Speaker Woo lauded the development of Vietnam-RoK relations over the past the past 30 years, highlighting frequent high-level exchanges, including Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s visit to the RoK in July. At a meeting with leaders of Gyeonggi province, Thanh emphasised his current visit's aim to strengthen substantive cooperation between Hanoi and local partners, particularly localities, including Gyeonggi, organisations and businesses. He proposed enhanced collaboration between the Hanoi-based Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park and Gyeonggi’s Urban Development Corporation, leveraging the province’s expertise in managing advanced technology zones. On the occasion, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed to establish friendship and cooperation between the Hanoi People's Committee and Gyeonggi authoritty in such areas as smart city development, urban planning, cultural heritage preservation, and climate change response. The Hanoi leader and his entourage also met with Seoul Mayor Oh Se Hoon and City Council Chairwoman Choi Ho Jung on October 22, during which the hosts spoke highly of good friendship and coopeation between the two capitals, and emphasised maintaining the mechanism of exchanging information and experiences in construction and development. Mayor Oh proposed collobration in smart city development, digital transformation, and urban planning, with a particular focus on development along the Red River's banks. Chairwoman Choi praised Hanoi’s recent development and wished that two sides will promote the effective implementation of the MoU on cooperation between the municipal people's councils of Hanoi and Seoul, signed in December last year. Both sides agreed to organise events to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Hanoi-Seoul relations in 2026. On October 21, the delegation of Hanoi participated in the Hanoi-RoK 2024 Investment and Trade Promotion Conference, and had meetings with leading Korean companies./.