President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Moon Jae-in and spouse on March 24 concluded their three-day State visit to Vietnam at the invitation of President Tran Dai Quang.

President Tran Dai Quang and his wife (R) welcome President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Moon Jae-in and his wife in Hanoi

During the visit, President Moon held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang, witnessed the signing of many cooperation agreements between the two countries, had a meeting with the press and attended a Vietnam-RoK Business Forum.

The RoK leader held separate meetings with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, and had an exchange programme with Vietnam’s U23 football team and its Korean head coach Park Hang-seo.

President Moon was also present at a ground-breaking ceremony for the Vietnam-RoK Institute for Science and Technology. On this occasion, he also laid flowers in tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum in Hanoi. 

At the meetings, the two sides expressed delight at the rapid, comprehensive and effective growth of bilateral relations in all fields after 25 years of setting up diplomatic ties, especially after the establishment of cooperative strategic partnership in 2009.

Both sides agreed to maintain regular high-level visits and meetings, while enhancing the efficiency and frequency of dialogue and discussion mechanisms, expanding exchanges and cooperation among agencies of the two governments, parliaments, politic parties and localities as well as in major areas such as diplomacy, defence, security and law enforcement.

They concurred to work together for the target of 100 billion USD in two-way trade by 2020, while rolling out measures to balance trade, and improving the efficiency of cooperation in investment, manufacturing, labour and energy. The two sides defined science and technology as spearhead to create a new momentum for bilateral cooperative relations.

The two countries also agreed to expand cooperation in the fields of culture, education, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.

The two sides consented to further strengthen coordination and mutual support at international forums as well as responding to global challenges and non-traditional security matters. They affirmed the importance of ensuring peace, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, and promoting the settlement of disputes in the East Sea through peaceful measures in line with international law.

On this occasion, President Moon Jae-in and President Tran Dai Quang witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on joint action programme in trade cooperation for the 2018-2020 period, aiming to reach the target of 100 billion USD in bilateral trade by 2020, along with MoUs on cooperation in supporting industry, infrastructure and transport,n urban construction and development, response to 4.0 revolution’s impacts, and the sending and receipt of labourers.

Within the framework of the visit, Nguyen Thi Hien, wife of President Tran Dai Quang and Kim Jung-sook, spouse of President Moon Jae-in, visited the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi to learn about Vietnamese culture and promote cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Korea Times highlights RoK President’s visit to Vietnam

President Moon Jae-in (L) holds hands with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang after their joint press conference at the presidential palace in Hanoi on March 23 (Source:Yonhap)

The State visit to Vietnam by President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea (RoK) from March 22-24 was highlighted in an article ran by the Korea Times – the RoK’s leading daily newspaper published in English.

With the title “Korea, Vietnam to upgrade relations”, the article stressed that after a summit between Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and President Moon Jae-in on March 23 in Hanoi, the two sides agreed to upgrade their bilateral strategic cooperative partnership into a more comprehensive one and held that Vietnam and the RoK are key partners of each other in trade, investment, diplomacy and people-to-people exchange. 

According to the article, President Moon said Vietnam is the centre of the RoK’s New Southern Policy, which aims to diversify the RoK’s economic partnerships beyond the US and China by increasing trade with Southeast Asian nations.

It also quoted President Quang as saying that Vietnam actively supported and welcomed the RoK government's efforts to resolve the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s nuclear issue peacefully and promote inter-Korean talks. 

For economic cooperation, the article said the leaders agreed to expand two-way trade to 100 billion USD by 2020 from the current 63.9 billion USD, adding that the two countries signed six memoranda of understanding (MOUs) on trade and economic cooperation.

It also cited the joint declaration announced after the summit which said that "the two leaders agreed the development of the two nations' relations has created reciprocal benefits and contributed to peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the world".

The article stressed President Moon expressed regret over the "unfortunate history between the two countries," referring to RoK troops' participation in the Vietnam War, adding that this is the first open expression of regret over the issue has been publicised.

Meanwhile, an official from the RoK President Palace quoted President Quang as saying that the Vietnamese State leader highly recognised the RoK government's sincerity over the painful history of the Vietnam War, the article said.

In another article, the Korea Times spotlights the participation of President Tran Dai Quang and his RoK counterpart Moon Jae-in in the RoK-Vietnam Business Forum. 

It noted that this is the first time a Vietnamese president had taken part in an economy-related event held alongside a RoK president's visit, indicating the Vietnamese government's high interest in bilateral economic relations.

In his speech at the forum, President Moon said the goal to lift the two-way trade to 100 billion USD by 2020 cannot be attained by only one side expanding exports, adding that this can be attained only when the two nations have reciprocal trade and companies of the countries advance into third nations by making use of each other's strong points.

VNA