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This morning, at the Government Office, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung met with Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung Hoon during President Lee Jae Myung’s state visit to Vietnam. Vietnam is focusing on implementing national development targets in the new period, and Ho Quoc Dung said Vietnam values and wishes to continue strengthening Vietnam–Korea relations within the framework of trust, companionship, and shared development.
Ho Quoc Dung proposed that Korea continue to support and contribute positively to promoting a bilateral relationship commensurate with the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. He also called for maintaining high-level delegation exchanges and engaging at all levels, while promoting cooperation in a balanced, sustainable, and mutually beneficial direction.
The Deputy Prime Minister encouraged Korean enterprises to expand new investments and scale up in Vietnam, particularly in priority fields including infrastructure development, high-tech electronics manufacturing, semiconductors, big data, biotechnology, and smart urban development. He further requested that relevant ministries and sectors of both countries cooperate closely to operationalize policy agreements into concrete projects with tangible results.
On the Korean side, Bae Kyung Hoon said that earlier in April, the two countries held the Joint Committee on Science and Technology, where they discussed a comprehensive cooperation plan. He said Korea views this as an important foundation for expanding cooperation across multiple fields.
Bae Kyung Hoon emphasized that many major Korean companies highly value Vietnam’s development potential and skilled workforce. He noted that cooperation is expanding in areas such as agriculture, human capital development, and the implementation of ODA projects.
Korea valued the Vietnam–Korea Institute of Science and Technology (VKIST) as a notable model of bilateral cooperation and expressed expectations that VKIST will continue to develop and become a symbol of cooperation between the two countries.
Korea pledged to strengthen support and coordinate effective implementation of VKIST-related projects, with the institute serving not only as a research base but also as a hub connecting enterprises from both sides. VKIST is also expected to be a platform for training human resources, particularly in software and artificial intelligence.
Bae Kyung Hoon highlighted the potential of Vietnam’s young workforce and expressed hope that the two sides will enhance cooperation in key priority areas including artificial intelligence and the semiconductor industry.
The two sides held extensive ministerial-level exchanges on cooperation content and said they are confident that more concrete activities will follow in the near future to realize common goals and deliver tangible results.
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