Hanoi (VNA) ♔- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held a working session with Ambassador of the Republic of Korea (RoK) to Vietnam Choi Young Sam to solidify the outcomes of recent high-level talks and advance bilateral cooperation agreements.

The session aimed to concretise the content of the phone talks between Party General Secretary and President To Lam and RoK President Yoon Suk Yeol, as well as review the implementation of agreements reached during PM Chinh's recent visit to the RoK. The PM asked the ambassador to actively work with relevant Vietnamese and Korean agencies to realise 41 cooperation documents signed by the two countries’ Governments, businesses and localities during his visit. He underlined the need to foster political trust and high-level exchanges across Party, Government, and parliamentary channels, while focusing on substantial cooperation in diplomacy, national defence-security, and economy. To achieve a two-way trade of 100 billion USD by 2025 and 150 billion USD by 2030, PM Chinh called for effective measures to ensure balanced and sustainable trade. He welcomed the RoK's decision to permit the import of fresh Vietnamese pomelo and promote the entry of other Vietnamese agricultural products and animal products into the Korean market. Additionally, he requested the expedited removal of import quotas on Vietnamese shrimp and measures to enhance the capacity of Vietnamese firms to integrate more deeply into the global supply chain, particularly within the ecosystem of Korean companies. PM Chinh encouraged Korean companies to expand their investments in Vietnam, particularly in digital transformation, green economy, high technology, semiconductor manufacturing, biotechnology, and smart city development. He also called for increased cooperation in small and medium-sized enterprises, startups, and human resources training in high technology, digital transformation, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence (AI). Furthermore, PM Chinh requested the RoK to consider a significant credit package with favourable interest rates for strategic infrastructure development in Vietnam, especially for major transportation projects such as high-speed railway and large-scale urban railway systems. The leader proposed expanding cooperation through specific projects in such areas as sci-tech, climate change mitigation, labour, tourism, cultural and people-to-people exchange, especially protecting the legitimate rights and interests of Vietnamese nationals in the RoK and Koreans in Vietnam. On regional and global issues, the Vietnamese PM emphasised the importance of close cooperation and mutual support at multilateral forums, particularly within the ASEAN-RoK framework and the Mekong-RoK mechanism. He also urged the RoK to support a common vision for ensuring security, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea, maintaining a peaceful and stable environment and settling disputes through peaceful means in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Ambassador Choi affirmed that the RoK is actively working to realise high-level agreements and prepare for upcoming high-level visits by leaders of both countries. He noted that the RoK stays ready to assist Vietnam in hosting the fourth Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 Summit, and considers the opening of a Vietnamese Consulate General in Busan. He highlighted ongoing efforts to raise two-way trade to the targeted levels, finalise agreements on mutual recognition of priority enterprises, and negotiate permission for the import of additional agricultural and seafood products from each country annually, with Vietnamese lychee and passion fruit expected to enter the Korean market soon. The RoK wishes to extend cooperation, investment and business activities in Vietnam across finance, pharmaceuticals, environmental protection, energy, minerals, strategic infrastructure, labour and employment, he said, hoping that Vietnam would ensure the necessary infrastructure, mechanisms and policies to facilitate stable and effective operations of Korean enterprises./.