President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Park Geun-hye and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung hailed the conclusion of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) as an important event in their countries’ trade relations.
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| Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and RoK’s President Park Geun-hye witness the signing of the Vietnam-RoK Free Trade Agreement__Photo: Duc Tam/VNA |
The FTA, which covers the trading of goods and services, investment, intellectual property, food hygiene and safety, rules of origin, customs facilitation, trade defense, technical barriers to trade, e-commerce, institutions and law, and economic cooperation, would help increase two-way trade to USD 70 billion by 2020 and bring the strategic partnership between the two countries to a new height, they agreed during Dung’s three-day visit to the RoK which concluded on December 12.
PM Dung asked the RoK Government to encourage both big corporations and small- and medium-sized enterprises to invest in Vietnam, especially in hi-tech and support industries, electronics, manufacturing and processing industries, energy and infrastructure development in industrial parks.
President Park Geun-hye reiterated that the RoK regarded Vietnam as its top partner in its policy of official development assistance, pledging to prioritize infrastructure, green growth and human resources projects.
Both leaders agreed that recent sharing of strategic benefits and political trust between the two countries laid an important foundation to expand bilateral ties, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the Asia-Pacific region.-
