Seoul (VNA) – The ninth meeting of theVietnam-the Republic of Korea (RoK) Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation was held in Seoul on October 24 under the co-chair of VietnameseMinister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat and Korean Minister of Scienceand ICT Lee Jong-ho.

The meeting was part of the activities to implement the actionprogramme to realise the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries which was established during RoK President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit toVietnam in June.

Addressing the event, Lee underscored the increasinglystrong impact of science and technology on life and socio-economic activities.He said that by promoting the policy coordination and cooperation in new areas, the two countries can optimise each other’s strengths and together cope with challenges they are facing.

He pointed to the considerable results of joint research between the twocountries and the positive human resources exchange within typical cooperationprojects, underlining that the Korean side hopes science-technologycollaboration between the two countries will be further fostered through the joint committee mechanism.

For his part, Dat highlighted the great cooperation potentialbetween the two countries in the field of science and technology.

The two sides can supplement each other in many areas, hesaid, affirming that the signing of the minute of the ninth meeting shows the commitmentof the two countries in implementing cooperation contents within the mechanism, laying a foundation for the promotion of bilateralcomprehensive partnership in the future.

The meeting aimed to share major policies in science andtechnology of the two countries, while seeking measures to expand bilateralcollaboration in new areas.

During the meeting, the Korean side introduced three major strategies and 17tasks of its 5th Basic Science and Technology Plan for the 2023-2027 period,while Vietnam briefed the Korean side on the country’s science-technologyrenovation policy, thus enhancing mutual understanding on each other’s science-technologypolicies.

Participants also evaluated their science-technology partnershipover the years and discussed ways to continue beefing up their ties in the field,including expanding the scale of science-technology and innovation cooperation,diversifying collaboration forms, and supporting Vietnam to implement thesecond phase of the Vietnam- Korea Institute of Science and Technology (VKIST).

The RoK will share with Vietnam its database on artificialintelligence (AI), promote cooperation on AI, digital transformation and coretechnology as well as source technology of Fourth Industrial Revolution, and strengthenits support in capacity improvement training to Vietnam.

The two sides will work together to connect the startup ecosystemsof the two countries. They agreed to continue to support the construction ofthe RoK’s research and development (R&D) centres in Vietnam.

The Vietnam-RoK Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation meets annually following the bilateral science-technologycooperation agreement signed in April 1995. In the previous eight meetings, thecommittee discussed different ways of cooperation in the field of science andtechnology.

The two sides agreed to hold the 10th meeting ofthe committee in Vietnam./.