Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (Photo: VNA)

During a phone call, Minister Bui Thanh Son asked the Korean Government to continue providing preferential loans to Vietnam and offering support to Vietnamese citizens living, studying, and working in Korea.

Minister Park Jin said that the RoK considers Vietnam an important partner and wants to develop strongly the bilateral relationship.

He asked the Vietnamese Government to create favourable conditions for Korean businesses, especially Korean financial institutions and banks, to expand investment in Vietnam.

The two Ministers agreed to work closely with each other to promote the exchange of delegations and meetings at all levels as well as practical cooperation in defence, security, and bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms, and implement measures to raise bilateral trade to 100 billion USD by 2023 and 150 billion by 2030.

They underscored the need to encourage Korean enterprises to invest more in Vietnam's spearhead industrial fields and transfer technology to Vietnam, and said they will cooperate in science and technology and strengthen collaboration in health, especially in disease prevention.

The two ministers agreed to support each other in solving issues of mutual concern and help Vietnam fulfill the role of coordinator for ASEAN-RoK relations until 2024.

They also agreed to maintain peace, stability, security, safety, cooperation, and development in the East Sea, continue to support the building of a practical and effective Code of Conduct (COC) that respects the interests of relevant stakeholders in the East Sea in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).