[Yonhap News Photo ]
HANOI -- The leaders of South Korea and Vietnam agreed Friday to work together to increase bilateral trade to more than 100 billion US dollars by 2020.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang also agreed to deepen diplomatic ties and enhance development cooperation during their summit in Hanoi. Moon arrived in the Vietnamese capital Thursday.
"President Moon expressed hope his visit to Vietnam, which is his first overseas trip of the year, will allow South Korea and Vietnam to comprehensively upgrade their 'strategic cooperative partnership' in various areas," Moon's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release.
It is the second bilateral talks between Moon and Quang, who met on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit held in Danang, Vietnam in November. Moon's first state visit to Hanoi is part of his two-nation trip that will later take him to the United Arab Emirates.'
In a joint declaration released shortly after their summit, the two leaders noted each other's country has become one of the most important partners. "The leaders of the two countries highly evaluated the fact that the countries have greatly improved their relations over the past 25 years since the South Korea-Vietnam diplomatic ties were established," read the joint declaration at a joint press conference.
"In addition, the leaders agreed on the need to upgrade the South Korea-Vietnam strategic cooperative partnership by expanding and deepening their exchange in each area while solidifying their complementary, active and creative cooperation by continuing their achievement in the development of bilateral ties over the past 25 years under the spirit of mutual respect," they said in their declaration.
Efforts to enhance their ties must include increased exchanges between their governments and people in all areas. "The two leaders agreed to establish a strong foundation for the development of the countries' strategic cooperative partnership by promoting mutual exchanges in various areas, such as central and local governments, the parliament, political parties and various social organizations," the joint declaration said.
Moon and Quang also agreed to increase their countries' diplomatic and defense cooperation. The countries will launch regular dialogue between their foreign ministers, while their defense ministries will seek to announce a joint statement on defense cooperation and shared vision at an early date, they said.
The countries will also work to boost their exchanges in the education, cultural, tourism and welfare sectors, they added. All these efforts will help the countries realize their goal of boosting their bilateral trade to over $100 billion by 2020. "The two leaders agreed to increase balanced and sustainable trade to achieve the goal of $100 billion in annual trade by 2020," the joint statement said.
In 2017, the countries' bilateral trade came to $63.9 billion, Cheong Wa Dae said earlier. Vietnam is South Korea's fourth-largest trading partner, and South Korea is Vietnam's second largest.
The leaders have also agreed to make joint efforts to further promote free trade in their regions by accelerating negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a multilateral free trade agreement that currently involves 16 nations, including China and all 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Friday's summit also led to the conclusion of negotiations for a social security agreement, under which some 13,000 South Korean business people and laborers currently in Vietnam will be exempt from Vietnam's new mandatory social welfare program over the next five years, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
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