President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Yoon Suk-yeol (Photo: VNA)

 President Phuc affirmed Viet Nam consistently values ties with the RoK in its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of relations.

 He congratulated the RoK Government and people on the successful implementation of their development strategies and goals, including the Indo-Pacific strategy, the ASEAN-RoK Solidarity Initiative, the Global Pivotal State (GPS) initiative that have improved the RoK’s role and position in the world.

 Expressing their delight at the rapid and effective development of bilateral friendship and cooperation over the past years, especially since the upgrade of ties to strategic cooperative partnership in 2009, both sides declared to lift their relationship to comprehensive strategic partnership to open up a new development period for bilateral ties.

 They agreed to facilitate all-level visits in diverse and flexible forms, further step up cooperation in diplomacy, national defence and security, carry out existing cooperation and dialogue mechanisms, strive for specific results in national defence industry cooperation and promote coordination in the fight against crimes, especially trans-national crimes, terrorism and non-traditional security challenges.

 Host and guest promised to boost trade, investment, development cooperation and technological transfer, toward achieving two-way trade of 100 billion USD next year and 150 billion USD by 2030 in a more balanced manner.

 Accordingly, the RoK will actively offer all possible support to Viet Nam’s exports to the country while assisting Vietnamese firms in joining the global supply chain of Korean firms. Viet Nam will make it easier for Korean enterprises to invest in and expand operations in electronics, infrastructure development and building of hi-tech complexes, green industrial zones and smart urban areas.

 The leaders highly valued the practicality and effectiveness of the official development assistance  (ODA) capital that the RoK has provided for Viet Nam in recent times, and agreed to strengthen cooperation in development assistance and increase ODA for Viet Nam in the coming years, especially for basic infrastructure construction and human resources training; further expand the provision of non-refundable aid, especially for projects in the Mekong Delta, and consider reducing and eventually removing binding conditions on contractors and origin of goods in obtaining loans from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF).

 They welcomed the signing of a framework agreement on cooperation in using the RoK’s loans from the EDCF and the the Economic Development Promotion Facility (EDPF).

 The two sides spoke highly of the practical, effective and comprehensive cooperation in culture, tourism, science and technology, health, environment, and transportation, saying that they support the promotion of cooperation between localities and friendship and people's organisations, contributing to further expanding the comprehensive strategic cooperation between Viet Nam and the RoK.

 They agreed to strengthen coordination to ensure legitimate rights of citizens of both nations residing in each country; foster cooperation in urban planning and development, housing and real estate market, technical infrastructure, training of human resources in managing and operating maritime, air and road transport.

 The two sides will work closely to implementing key transport infrastructure projects in the 2021-2025 period, promoting more Korean investment in transport infrastructure in the form of Public Private Partnership (PPP); expand the scope of cooperation in the fields of labour and vocational training, and soon extend the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on sending and receiving Vietnamese labourers to work in the RoK (EPS), which will expire in February 2023.

 The RoK will continue to support Viet Nam in climate change response and emission reduction in each project and each enterprise in accordance with  Vietnam's commitments made at COP26.

 Within the framework of the talks, the leaders exchanged views on regional and global issues.

 President Phuc affirmed that Viet Nam consistently supports the implementation of denuclearization, as well as promotes dialogue and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, adding that it is willing to coordinate and contribute to this process.

 The two leaders agreed on the necessity of ensuring security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, maintaining a peaceful and stable environment and a legal order, and resolving maritime disputes by peaceful measures, ensuring legitimate rights and interests of countries in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

 A joint statement on the comprehensive strategic partnership between Viet Nam and the RoK was issued after the talks, aiming to promote the deep and reliable cooperation between the two countries in all fields.

 The leaders also witnessed the signing of many cooperation documents between ministries, sectors, localities and businesses of the two countries.

 President Phuc took the occasion to invite his RoK counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife to visit Viet Nam and the later thanked and accepted the invitation with pleasure./.