President Moon Jae-in spoke on the phone with the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, for 20 minutes from 4:00 p.m. today. The two leaders discussed measures for bilateral and multilateral cooperation in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

President Moon said, “Leaders at the extraordinary virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit reached a consensus that the movement of businesspeople and other essential individuals needs to be allowed so long as it does not undermine any of the country’s quarantine measures.” The President went on to say, “I am grateful to the Prime Minister for giving extraordinary consideration to our bilateral relations and taking steps to enable Korean businesspeople to enter Viet Nam.”

President Moon continued to say, “I ask you for your continued consideration and support so that SME also personnel can be allowed into Viet Nam as early as possible for the sake of seamless operations at local factories there.”

Prime Minister Phuc said that Viet Nam values the two countries’ cooperative partnership and expressed his agreement that economic cooperation such as exchanges between their businesses should continue. The Prime Minister proposed that the two countries continue to work together while maintaining close communication as they have done to date. 

In addition, Prime Minister Phuc said that Korea’s diagnostic testing is drawing global attention as an exemplary model for the world and suggested cooperation in the quarantine and clinical fields.

The two leaders also shared the understanding that cooperation and solidarity within the international community are important as the COVID-19 outbreak is not an issue confined to a single country.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister said that ASEAN issued the Chairman’s Statement on Collective Response to the Outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019. He added that he looked forward to the success of the special ASEAN Plus Three summit (video conference) being planned for early April for which the Republic of Korea is coordinating cooperation among itself, China, Japan and ASEAN. 

President Moon said, “The special ASEAN Plus Three summit is very opportune. The Korean Government will closely cooperate with Viet Nam for its success.”

In particular, President Moon said, “Korea and Viet Nam share the valuable experience of launching the ASEAN Plus Three cooperative mechanism during the 1997 foreign exchange crisis and turning that crisis into an opportunity. If ASEAN and the three countries of Korea, China and Japan join forces once more, we will be able to surmount this situation wisely.”   

The two leaders agreed to push ahead with joint projects in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and infrastructure development cooperation in Viet Nam, including the smart cities, airports, ports and railroads that they discussed at the bilateral summit in Seoul in November 2019, as soon as the COVID-19 is brought under control.