NA Chairwoman hosts RoK ambassador

• NA Chairwoman leaves Hanoi for Russia, Belarus visits
• NA Chairwoman meets voters in Can Tho

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (right) and Ambassador of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Park Noh-wan (Photo: VNA)

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan hosted a reception for Ambassador of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Park Noh-wan in Hanoi on February 19.

At the meeting, the top legislator highlighted the fruitful development of the Vietnam-RoK strategic partnership across spheres.

The two sides have maintained the exchange of visits, she said, citing the official visit to Vietnam by Speaker of the RoK National Assembly Chung Sye-kyun in 2017 and the State visit by RoK President Moon Jae-in and his spouse in 2018.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese NA Chairperson and Prime Minister also visited the Eastern Asian country in 2018 and 2019.

“This reflects high political trust between the two countries”, Ngan stressed.

The RoK has become one of Vietnam’s leading economic partners, ranking first in investment, second in official development assistance (ODA) and third in trade, the leader said.

She added that the two countries are striving to raise trade revenue to 100 billion USD this year.

Highlighting people-to-people exchange between the two countries, the NA leader said about 170,000 Koreans are living and working in Vietnam while the number of Vietnamese in the RoK is 200,000, with 65,000 Vietnamese-Korean families.

For his part, Park pledged to make all-out efforts to contribute to enhancing the bilateral ties.

The RoK highly values socio-economic achievements Vietnam has recorded over the past time, as well as its increasing role and position in the international arena, he said.

The ambassador expressed his hope for strengthened bilateral legislative ties, especially the relationship between the friendship parliamentarians groups of the two countries.

Lauding Vietnam’s efforts in fighting the acute respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Park said the RoK Embassy in Vietnam is coordinating with Korean businesses and residents in the country to seek solutions to help Vietnam deal with difficulties caused by impacts of the epidemic.

The ambassador said he is interested in enhancing cooperation between localities of the two countries and informed NA Chairwoman Ngan that the RoK Embassy will organise exchange programmes in Vinh and Can Tho cities this year.

To boost cooperation with Vietnam’s central region, a joint consultation committee has been put into operation, and the mechanism is projected to be rolled out in the Mekong Delta, focusing on Can Tho city.

Such mechanisms are also expected to help boost collaboration between businesses and people of the two countries, Park said.

On this occasion, NA Chairwoman Ngan urged Ambassador Park to accelerate the launch of a direct flight between Vietnam’s Can Tho city and the RoK.

She asked the ambassador to convey her invitation to Speaker Chung to pay an official visit to Vietnam this year and attend the 41st General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA 41) in Quang Ninh province’s Ha Long city.