Photo: TG&VN

Vice Ministers of Foreign Affairs Ho Xuan Son of Viet Nam and Cho Tea Yong of the RoK  expressed their pleasure with recent developments of the bilateral relations and agreed that further comprehensive cooperation for mutual interests should be enhanced, particularly in trade, investment, development cooperation, tourism, labor, science and technology.

Viet Nam valued the RoK’s leading partnership and affirmed that the country would provide more favorable conditions for foreign investors, including those from the RoK.

Both sides expressed their resolve to conclude negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement by the end of this year and bring bilateral trade value to US$70 billion as declared in the Viet Nam-RoK high-level joint statement in 2013.

Yong said that RoK investors valued the Vietnamese Government’s quick response to recent social disorders in Binh Duong and Ha Tinh province and expressed his belief in the Government’s resolve and capacity to maintain a stable trade and investment environment.

Regarding cooperation in security and defense, the two sides agreed to maintain and expand current dialogue and policy exchange mechanisms while enhancing collaboration in staff training, defense industry and experience sharing in joining the United Nations’ peacekeeping force.

They also agreed to boost coordination at international and regional forums, including the UN, the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ASEAN+ and the East Asia Summit.

Son informed his counterpart about recent developments of the ongoing tensions in the East Sea as China illegally positioned its Haiyang Shiyou-981 in Viet Nam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, violating Viet Nam’s sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction.

Yong expressed his concern about maintaining peace, stability, maritime safety and freedom in the East Sea, as well as his support to peaceful measures to resolve disputes on the basis of international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).

The RoK representative stated the country’s stance on the situation on the Korea Peninsula, inter-Korea relations and related issues.

Son affirmed Viet Nam’s consistent policy of supporting peace, stability and the peninsula’s denuclearization and being ready to contribute and boost peaceful dialogues, trust building and inter-Korea relationship improvement, saying that VietNam backs all sides in resolving disagreements via peaceful dialogues, contributing to maintaining peace, stability and cooperation in the region.