The RoK's Consul General in Da Nang Ahn Min-sik addresses the ceremony on November 6 (Photo: VNA)

Consul General Ahn Min-sik said that among the ten ASEAN nations, Vietnam is the only one where his country has set up three diplomatic agencies, which shows its expectations of Vietnam in its New Southern Policy.

RoK enterprises previously did business and conducted investments primarily in the northern and southern regions, but more and more RoK people and companies have paid attention to the central region in recent years, he noted.

The number of RoK people visiting the central region, including Da Nang, doubled each year between 2015 and 2018, and stood at about 1.8 million last year, or nearly half of the total.

The Consulate General will give top priority to expanding and strengthening the two countries’ friendship in the central region, the diplomat added.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee Ho Ky Minh said the city has established cooperative ties with five RoK localities: Changwon, Daegu, Hwaseong, Seoul, and Gyeongsang.

Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, investment, trade, and tourism between Da Nang and RoK organisations and businesses had developed strongly, he said, with the RoK having invested in 232 projects in the city, and there were three direct air routes linking its major localities with Da Nang.

Minh stressed that the Consulate General will be a bridge in further promoting the friendship, investment, trade, tourism, and cultural and scientific cooperation between RoK localities and partners and the central Vietnamese localities it covers, thereby contributing to the countries’ strategic cooperative partnership.

Da Nang authorities will create the best conditions possible for the Consulate General to operate effectively and in line with international practices.

Also at the ceremony, RoK Ambassador Park Noh-wan thanked the Vietnamese Government and authorities in Da Nang for facilitating the opening of the Consulate General, noting that this city is one of the favourite destinations of RoK people.

Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister To Anh Dung said that together with the Embassy in Hanoi and the Consulate General in HCM City, the RoK’s Consulate General in Da Nang will substantially boost the two countries’ relations. It will help introduce the city and also the nearby provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, and Thua Thien-Hue to the RoK people, to help lift bilateral ties to a new level.

Representatives from RoK enterprises presented aid worth over 470 million VND (20,400 USD) to Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Ngai provinces at the ceremony, to help them address the consequences of recent storms and flooding./.VNA