Vietnamese top legislator’s visit makes headlines in RoK

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Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan arrives in Busan on December 4.

Korean daily newspaper of Busan on December 4 ran an article written by the Vietnamese top legislator noting that the relationship between Vietnam and the RoK, which began nearly 900 years ago, is developing comprehensively on the basis of historical connectivity, cultural similarities, economic growth support, and efforts of the two governments and peoples.

After 26 years since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, the two sides have become important partners of each other.

RoK’s Yonhap news agency posted a photo of the Vietnamese NA leader with the caption saying that the leader arrived in the RoK on December 4 for a four-day visit at the invitation of Speaker of the RoK National Assembly Moon Hee-sang.

Earlier, the Korea Herald online newspaper ran an article entitled “Vietnamese top parliamentarian’s Korea visit heralds bright bilateral partnership” by Dr. Kim Hyun-jae, Director of the Vietnam Research Institute at Youngsan University.

It noted that her visit occurs as Hanoi and Seoul celebrate 10 years of Vietnam-RoK Strategic Cooperative Partnership (2009-2019). Since the establishment of diplomatic relations on December 22, 1992, bilateral relations have gone from strength to strength in every category. 

On the parliamentary level, bilateral exchanges and cooperation on the international stage are vibrant through different channels, particularly their parliamentary friendship associations, it said.

The RoK is the top foreign investor in Vietnam with total investment capital reaching US$62.12 billion in October, while coming second in official development assistance to Vietnam after Japan, and second in tourism and commerce volumes after China. 

Vietnam is the RoK’s third-largest export market after China and the US, and is forecast to surpass the US by 2020. Bilateral trade turnover has steadily increased to US$61.5 billion last year, 117 times the initial amount of US$500 million in 1992. Bilateral trade turnover reached US$55.45 billion from January through October. At the current rate, bilateral trade volume is expected to top US$100 billion by 2020, said the article.

Some 191,000 Vietnamese are currently studying, working and living in the RoK. There are more than 150,000 Koreans living in Vietnam, and more than 70,000 Vietnamese women married to Korean men. 

Some 2.5 million RoK tourists travelled to Vietnam last year, while 300,000 Vietnamese visited the RoK, it noted. 

Vietnam’s population of 100 million people, 60% of whom are under the age of 35, provides a strategic base for manpower for foreign companies. This has been buttressed by the country’s steady and high growth rate of around 6% over the last several years, and an inflation rate below 5%. The foreign exchange rate has also remained stable without abnormal fluctuations.

To elicit RoK investment, the Vietnamese government provides various incentives and business-friendly conditions, with a view to nurturing its infrastructure construction, high tech, auxiliary and energy industries, among others. Improving the state of the country’s infrastructure, equitization of state-owned enterprises, liberalization and simplification of bureaucracy are high on the agenda for Hanoi. 

The RoK media underlined that the RoK visit of the Vietnamese top legislator will help further promote the growing ties between the two countries to new levels.