Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) on March 29 issued a joint press release following Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to the RoK and his participation in the second Nuclear Security Summit.

The two sides evaluated the significance and results of PM Dung’s visit highly and agreed that this is an important political activity of the Vietnam - RoK Friendship Year on the occasion of the 20 th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties, making contributions to boosting the strategic partnership between the two nations.

The two sides agreed to continue to maintain and increase visits and exchanges between high-ranking leaders of the two countries in different forms, such as bilateral visits, meetings at multilateral forums and sending special envoys in order to exchange views on bilateral relations, as well as on regional and international issues.

They expressed their pleasure to see developments in economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and reaffirmed their determination to soon fulfil the target of raising two-way trade turnover to 20 billion USD prior to 2015 and 30 billion USD in the future.

The RoK will consider Vietnam ’s proposals on cooperation in trade, industry, energy, construction and sci-tech to expand bilateral relations between the two countries.

Additionally, the RoK will provide more support to ensure the effective implementation of the Vam Cong bridge project, which receives the largest funding from the RoK Economic Development Cooperation Fund.

The two sides welcomed investors of the two countries to take part in Ho Chi Minh City-Can Tho section of the express railway project and agreed to speed up the construction of a technology incubator in Can Tho city.

They also spoke highly of Vietnam ’s study on using nuclear energy in a peaceful manner to develop industrial infrastructure, energy security and cope with climate change and agreed to collaborate on studying nuclear power development in Vietnam .

The two sides also agreed to assist the two countries’ enterprises in implementing projects on exploiting and processing coal and aluminium as well as on building thermo-power plants in Vietnam .

They agreed to strengthen cooperation in labour and vocational training as well as in science and technology, education, culture, health, sports, arts and tourism.

The two sides will continue to strengthen consultations and cooperate closely at regional and international forums.

The Vietnamese side praised the RoK for its successful organisation of the second Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul .

Both sides agreed to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to study a pilot project on using Radiation Source Location Tracking in Vietnam and increase cooperation in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, ensuring nuclear security, safety and nonproliferation.

They agreed on the importance of peace, stability and denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula.

They also expressed their concerns over the DPR of Korea’s announcement on March 16 on its plan to launch satellites, stressing the necessity to strictly follow UNSC resolutions, including Resolution 1874.

The two sides applauded the signing of cooperative agreements, expressing their hope that through the documents, the two countries’ cooperation will further strengthened.

PM Nguyen Tan Dung invited PM Kim Hwang-sik and other RoK high-ranking leaders and conveyed President Truong Tan Sang’s invitation to President Lee Myung-bak to visit Vietnam during Vietnam-RoK Friendship Year.

The RoK leaders accepted the invitation with pleasure.

VNA