The Vietnamese and South Korean Government have reaffirmed their commitments to realize the trade turnover target of US$100 billion set for 2023 by their country leaders.

Overview of the event. Source: MoIT

The view was shared by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and his South Korean counterpart Moon Sung Wook as they co-chaired the 11^th Meeting of Korea-Vietnam Joint Committee on Energy, Industry & Trade Cooperation and the 5^th Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Korea-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement held on December 22.

To realize the goal, both ministers agreed on a series of measures to facilitate trade and further open their respective markets for farm produce, while taking action to refrain from adopting trade protection measures, protect intellectual property rights and promote logistics infrastructure.

Dien and Moon stressed the necessity to soon finalize internal procedures for the signing of an agreement on the implementation of the cumulation of origin of textile under the UK-Vietnam FTA (UKVFTA), with a view to further penetrating the UK market.

The two countries would continue to bolster cooperation in a multilateral framework, especially in fully implementing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), set to take effect on January 1, 2022, in turn facilitating trade, investment, and solidifying regional supply chains amid economic recovery.

According to Moon, the South Korean Government would assist Vietnam in enhancing the capability of the supporting industry and draft the Industry Development Law; providing support for Vietnam to promote the molding and precision engineering industries; strengthening investment and trade in fields of automobile, mechanism, electronics, garment, and chemical.

Both sides shared the view on the importance of carbon-neutral goals and the global trend for clean energy, and therefore they pledged to provide more incentives for enterprises from Vietnam and South Korea to cooperate and transfer technologies in the energy sector, including new technological solutions of hydrogen or energy storage.

Upon the request from Vietnam, South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy has agreed to finance phase 2 of the project on promoting the development of the energy investment market in the industrial sector and an action program on national green development for 2021-2025 period.

Seven years since the implementation of the Korea-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, bilateral trade turnover is estimated to more than double from $36.5 billion in 2015 to $77 billion in 2021.

Total investment from South Korea to Vietnam also rose from nearly $44 billion in 2015 to $74 billion in 2021.

During the visit of the Chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue to South Korea from December 12-15 at the invitation of his counterpart Park Byeong Seug, both leaders agreed on taking bilateral turnover to $100 billion by 2023 and $150 billion by 2030 with a balanced trade relationship.