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Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (right) on November 25 receives Mayor of Busan Oh Keo-don on the occasion of his trip to the Korean city to attend the ASEAN-RoK Commemorative Summit. (Photo: VNA)

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on November 25 met with Mayor of Busan Oh Keo-don on the occasion of his trip to the Korean city to attend the ASEAN-Republic of Korea (RoK) Commemorative Summit.

Mayor Oh Keo-don said the administration and people of Busan city want to boost ties with ASEAN nations, including Vietnam. Busan hopes to beef up cooperation and exchange with Vietnamese cities and provinces, particularly Ho Chi Minh City and wants more firms from Busan to invest in Vietnam, he said.

He unveiled that Busan will name one of its avenues ASEAN and establish an ASEAN culture centre.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc appreciated his host’s hope for stronger ties with Vietnamese localities. As the Busan-Keangnam region is home to a large number of Vietnamese people, the PM asked the mayor, the government and people of Busan to continue supporting them to blend in with the locals and contribute to the city’s socio-economic development as well as to the two countries’s friendship.

The government of Vietnam will create favourable conditions for Korean citizens to live and work in Vietnam, he said.

He urged Busan and Vietnamese localities to together organise more cultural exchange events as people-to-people exchange is the foundation for deepening the bilateral ties.

Vietnam and the RoK see great potential in economic cooperation, he said, emphasising on trade and investment. He estimated trade between the two countries at 80 billion USD this year and expected it to hit 100 billion USD in 2020. The RoK’s trade with Vietnam has always made up half of that with ASEAN for years, the leader noted.

He also asked the administration of Busan to facilitate the launch of a direct flight to Da Nang city in central Vietnam.

Later the same day, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited the Port of Busan, the RoK’s largest and the world’s second largest container port which handles 75 percent of the country’s total container cargo.

PM Phuc is in Busan, the RoK’s second largest city, for the ASEAN-Rok Commemorative Summit, which aims to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the two sides’ dialogue relations, and the first Mekong-RoK Summit during his trip to the RoK from November 24-28.

He is scheduled to take part in the ASEAN-RoK CEO Summit, the Innovation Showcase 2019, and the ASEAN-RoK Startup Expo, as well as hold meetings with Busan leaders.

After attending these events, PM Phuc will pay an official visit to the RoK. The visit is the first by a Vietnamese PM in seven years, and is of significance to strengthening cooperation between the two countries in the new situation.