Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and his counterpart, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Bang Moon Kyu, co-chaired both meetings.

Also attending the meetings on the Vietnamese side were Mr. Nguyen Viet Anh, Representative of the Vietnamese Embassy in Korea; representatives of functional units under the Ministry of Industry and Trade; a few Vietnamese companies in the fields of commerce, industry, and energy.

On the RoK side, there were representatives of units under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of RoK; Korean Trade Commission, Ministry of Economy and Finance; Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; and a number of large Korean enterprises in the industrial and energy sectors.

Joint Committee meetings between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea were held in Seoul (Photo: MOIT)

The Joint Committee meetings between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of RoK held in Seoul this time are extremely important as the two sides jointly review and evaluate the results achieved in trade, industry, and energy cooperation since the official establishment of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in December 2022.

On that basis, the two sides will set out directions and plans to promote trade, industry and energy cooperation, aiming for a turnover target of USD 150 billion in 2030.

13th meeting of the Vietnam-RoK Joint Committee on Trade, Industry and Energy Cooperation

Recognizing that the world and regional situation still has many difficulties, affecting the development of bilateral economic and trade relations, the two Ministers discussed and agreed on creative solutions and planned new cooperation mechanisms in the fields of responsibility of both sides. They also supported enhancing each other's position in bilateral and multilateral cooperation frameworks... thereby contributing to each country's economic recovery and development.

In the field of trade, the two Ministers agreed on the need to drastically implement synchronous solutions to develop bilateral trade relations, aiming for a bilateral trade turnover of USD 150 billion by 2030, possibly to main cooperation contents such as: actively and effectively deploying the Korea Plus cooperation mechanism in Vietnam and Vietnam Plus in Korea; close cooperation, mutual support in multilateral frameworks such as IPEF, RCEP...; closely coordinating to effectively operate the Electronic Origin Data Exchange System (EODES) to facilitate businesses from both sides in import and export activities; strengthening cooperation in the field of e-commerce as well as conduct joint research to expand cooperation in training human resources for Vietnam in information technology...

Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam Nguyen Hong Dien at the meeting (Photo: MOIT)

In the field of industry, the two Ministers agreed to assign technical levels to both sides to soon discuss and make an action plan to implement the Memorandum of Understanding to establish the Vietnam–RoK Essential Minerals Center approved by the two Ministries on June 23, 2023.

The two sides also discussed and agreed at the Meeting on several important cooperation contents such as: promoting cooperation in medium and long-term production of raw materials and components; promoting cooperation in human resource transfer in the shipbuilding industry; strengthening investment connections and cooperation in the textile and garment industry, automobile industry…

Both sides also agreed to close cooperation and support in overcoming difficulties and creating favorable conditions for investors from RoK participating in energy projects in Vietnam. RoK agreed to support Vietnam in new energy development policies, promoting Vietnam's energy transition process towards the goal of net zero by 2050.

Vietnamese Minister Nguyen Hong Dien also proposed that the Korean side continue to pay attention and promote cooperation in a number of potential fields such as renewable energy and green energy; fuel conversion and environmental treatment for operating thermal power plants and gas turbines; deploying gas and LNG thermal power projects; economical and efficient use of energy; energy storage technology, carbon storage; capacity improvement for institution building and energy management in the economy...

The two Ministers also witnessed the handing over of two documents (Photo: MOIT)

The 7th meeting of the Joint Committee to implement the Vietnam-RoK Free Trade Agreement

The two Co-Chairs welcomed the fact that the Vietnam-RoK FTA is being implemented smoothly in recent times. After 8 years, total bilateral trade turnover has grown impressively, reaching nearly 2.5 times from USD 36.5 billion in 2015 to USD 87 billion in 2022. Total RoK investment capital to Vietnam have increased nearly 2 times, from USD 43.7 billion in 2015 to over USD 84 billion in 2023 (as of November 2023).

The two Ministers discussed and agreed on directions for implementing cooperation in areas such as customs and origin of goods, trade defense measures, food safety and sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), technical trade barriers... to remove difficulties, create a favorable legal corridor for implementation and take full advantage of the benefits brought by the VKFTA Agreement.

At the end of the two meetings, the Ministers of both sides signed two documents including: Minutes of the 13th meeting of the Vietnam-RoK Joint Committee on Trade, Industry and Energy Cooperation; Joint statement of the 7th meeting of the Joint Committee to implement the Vietnam-RoK Free Trade Agreement.

Ministers of both sides signed a cooperation document (Photo: MOIT)

In addition, the two Ministers also witnessed the handing over of two documents including: Memorandum of Understanding on important mineral elastic supply chain between the Korean Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources and the Vietnamese Academy of Sciences, Mining - Metallurgy Technology; Principle contract between Thai Binh Xanh Group JSC and Star Group Industries/Sunglim Rare Earth Metal Company Limited on "Business cooperation in rare earth processing and factory investment in Vietnam".

Within the framework of the Meetings, Vietnamese Minister also met with a number of new businesses wishing to invest or expand investment in the industrial and energy sectors in Vietnam such as Hyundai Motors Group, Samsung Electronics, Star Group, Lotte...

The two Ministers discussed and agreed on directions for implementing cooperation contents (Photo: MOIT)

Vietnam, RoK Celebrate Productive Friendship in Webtoon Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), a country with popular webtoons adapted into TV series on Netflix, expressed interest in accessing the intellectual property as well ...

Promoting Vietnam-RoK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Chang Ho Jin affirmed that the Ministry will coordinate closely with the Ministry ...

Vietnam-RoK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Further Promoted Recently, Vietnamese Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Nguyen Vu Tung received the delegation of the Vietnam-RoK Businessmen and Investment Association (VKBIA).