Busan (VNA) – VietnameseMinister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and his Korean counterpart SungYun-mo have discussed measures to further bolster economic, trade andinvestment partnership between the two countries.

During their meeting in Busan onthe sidelines of the ASEAN-Republic of Korea (RoK) Commemorative Summit and thefirst Mekong-RoK Summit, the two sides sought ways to specify the bilateralcooperation potential and deal with issues in various fields.

In the area of industry, the twosides agreed to increase collaboration in enhancing Vietnam’s capacity inproduction, especially in processing-manufacturing and supporting industry,thus increasing Vietnam’s exports to the RoK and third countries.

The two sides will work closelytogether to inaugurate the Vietnam-RoKconsultancy and technology solution centre (VITASK) in 2019, whilebuilding a database on supporting industry businesses and realizing thememorandum of understanding between Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Tradeand Samsung Vietnam on cooperation in personnel training.

Theywill also continue implementing human resources training programme in supportingindustry. The RoK will help Vietnam improve capacity in technical design forfirms in the garment and textile sector.

Inthe field of energy, the two sides expressed their pleasure at effectivecollaboration of relevant agencies and businesses of both sides over the years.Many Korean firms have engaged in BOT projects or become EPC contractors forbig projects in Vietnam.

Thetwo countries agreed to promote affiliation in energy safety and saving.

Theefficient bilateral cooperation in energy showed the confidence of Korean firmsin the Vietnamese business climate and socio-economic policies, they noted.

Inthe area of trade, both sides concurred to apply all necessary measures toboost trade and investment ties in the direction of increasing Vietnam’sexports to the RoK, especially agro-fisheries products, while strengthening theattraction of RoK’s investment in Vietnam in food production and processing andtrade infrastructure development.

Theyalso agreed to facilitate the export of Vietnam’s agro-fisheries products tothe RoK, while strengthening collaboration in trade defence through theaffiliation in implementing a technical assistance programme to help Vietnambuild and operate a trade defence early warning system, and popularizingVietnamese laws to Korean firms and updating them with information of tradedefence cases.

Thetwo sides will also join hands in enhancing Vietnam’s capacity in productdesigning, while creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese goods to enterdistribution channels in the RoK, and working together in human resourcestraining for trade sector.

Onthe occasion, the two ministers co-chaired the third meeting of the joint committeeon the implementation of the Vietnam-RoK free trade agreement and witness thesigning of a memorandum of understanding among the Vietnamese Ministry ofIndustry and Trade, the Korean Ministry of Trade,Industry, and Energy, and Lotte Group./.