President Moon Jae-in held a summit with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc who is on an official visit to Korea to attend the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit. Their summit at Cheong Wa Dae lasted for an hour and four minutes from 6:08 p.m. today.

The two leaders had in-depth discussions on how to strengthen bilateral cooperation, including reinforcing the foundation for collaboration in order to keep the dynamic advancement of bilateral ties moving forward and establishing a partnership on the international stage with Viet Nam as a key partner in Korea’s New Southern Policy.

Five years into the Korea-Vietnam FTA, President Moon praised the continuing high growth trend in trade, investments and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, adding, “I hope that the MOUs on bilateral cooperation to be signed today will greatly contribute to achieving the goal of increasing trade volume to US$100 billion in 2020.”

Stating his active endorsement, Prime Minister Phuc expressed hope that Korean businesses would continue to invest in Viet Nam in various areas such as high-tech, components, automobiles and finance, promising that he would also actively support efforts to resolve difficulties facing Korean companies.

President Moon next spoke highly of the conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, the world’s largest FTA. The President asked for Viet Nam’s active cooperation, so that the RCEP agreement could finally be signed without fail next year while Viet Nam is serving as the Chair of ASEAN. 

President Moon also said, “The Korean Government has embarked on developing a smart city in central Viet Nam, the home region of the Prime Minister. I would like to see the establishment of a Korea-Vietnam smart city cooperation center help create a joint smart city master plan and national standards for both countries,” emphasizing the need to increase bilateral cooperation on smart cities. 

Prime Minister Phuc said he actively supports President Moon’s Korean Peninsula peace process. The Prime Minister went on to say that he is looking forward to President Moon making the best use of the dialogue momentum to achieve the denuclearization of the Peninsula, expressing his intention to work together with the international community. 

Prime Minister Phuc said he hopes that substantive bilateral cooperation will be expanded and strengthened based on mutual understanding and trust, adding that today’s summit was successful. In response, President Moon said, “I anticipate our bilateral relations advancing to a new height this year, marking the 10th anniversary of our strategic cooperative partnership.”