Vietnam, RoK are each other’s important economic partners

Diverse economic cooperation achievements

According to Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu, currently the RoK ranks first in terms of direct investment in Vietnam; second in development cooperation (ODA), labor and tourism; and third in commercial cooperation. In the opposite direction, Vietnam is also the RoK's largest economic partner in ASEAN, accounting for 30% of investment and 50% of total trade turnover between the RoK and ASEAN. This shows that the relationship between Vietnam and the RoK has developed effectively and substantively, bringing practical and concrete benefits to the people and businesses of the two countries.

Mr. Yoo Jeong Yeol, Chairman of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), said that the bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and the RoK has reached an all-time high of USD87.7 billion, making Vietnam the RoK's third largest trading partner. So far, about 8,800 Korean companies have been present in Vietnam.

About 205 Korean enterprises, including leaders of leading Korean corporations such as Samsung, Hyundai and LG, will accompany President Yoon Suk Yeol to visit Vietnam on June 22-24. "This is the largest number of businesses in the recent foreign visits of the President, showing that the economic, investment and trade cooperation between the two countries has been developing rapidly and impressively," said Ms. Oh Young Ju, Korean Ambassador to Vietnam.

Towards diverse new fields in future

According to Mr. Yoo Jeong Yeol, President Yoon Suk Yeol's upcoming visit to Vietnam will be a great opportunity for the parties to consider the orientation of economic cooperation between the two countries and strategies for Korean companies to penetrate the Vietnamese market. Currently, the RoK and Vietnam are expanding their complementary trade, focusing on intermediate goods and spare parts. The two countries need to pay more attention in upgrading their trade structure and strengthening their supply chain partnership.

If a RoK-Vietnam supply chain cooperation network including core minerals, materials and intermediate products is built on the basis of industrial cooperation partnerships, the synergistic effect in bilateral economic cooperation is expected to be very large. Along with that, it is very important to design a foundation for medium and long-term trade and investment by expanding trade in high value-added high-end consumer goods and services.

In addition, if in the past, investment cooperation between Vietnam and the RoK mainly focused around the field of manufacturing, now the Government and businesses of the two countries have realized the importance of finding new collaborative projects. During the upcoming visit, the fact that many Korean businesses accompany the Korean President to visit Vietnam and participate in economic activities will open up many potential areas for cooperation in the future such as responding to climate change, environment, digital transformation, smart city development, and energy transformation./.