Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on April 3 afternoon held phonetalks with the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s President Moon Jae-in to discuss the COVID-19prevention and control in each country and bilateral cooperation in this field.

PM Phuc informed the RoK President about Vietnam’s drastic measures against theCOVID-19 and positive results achieved with no deaths so far. The Vietnamese Governmentis continuing its efforts amid the complicated developments of thepandemic around the world, while striving to promote economic development,address social issues, and protect safety and health of Vietnamese people andforeign citizens in the country, he said.

The Vietnamese Government leader spoke highly of the RoK Government's diseasecontrol measures and suggested the two governments coordinate closely, shareexperience and support each other in the prevention and control of the epidemic,as well as provide assistance for the Vietnamese community in the RoK to helpthem stabilise their lives and have full necessary conditions to prevent andfight the disease.

President Moon Jae-in said that his country had overcome many difficultiescaused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As now is not a safe time yet, the RoK Governmentcontinues to implement a number of measures such as social distancing, he said.

Noting Vietnam's good control of the epidemic are praised by the internationalcommunity, he affirmed that the RoK Government is willing to exchangeexperience and coordinate with Vietnam in disease prevention and control, and citizenprotection. He thanked the Government of Vietnam for supporting RoK citizensand enterprises doing business in Vietnam.

Thetwo leaders agreed on the need of strengthening international cooperation toprevent and control the pandemic. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed Vietnam'sinternational cooperation efforts, affirming that as the ASEAN 2020 Chair,Vietnam has been hosting discussions on strengthening COVID-19 prevention andcontrol coordination among ASEAN countries and between ASEAN and its partnercountries, including those in the ASEAN+3 mechanism (China, Japan and the RoK).

President Moon Jae-in said he supports Vietnam's efforts and initiatives andaffirmed that as the coordinator of the ASEAN+3 mechanism, the RoK will workclosely with Vietnam to successfully promote ASEAN's dialogue and cooperationmechanisms, including ASEAN-Korea and ASEAN+3.

The two sides exchanged views onbilateral cooperation and expressed satisfaction about the effective cooperationbetween the two countries. They agreed to deepen the bilateral relations in thecoming time, including maintaining the exchange of high-level delegations andboosting cooperation in economy and other fields immediately after the end ofthe COVID-19./.