Businesses from Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) werebrought together at a conference in Hanoi on September 30 to seekways to develop bilateral economic cooperation in the future.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment DaoQuang Thu said the Vietnamese Government highly values the experienceand economic assistance from partner countries, especially the RoK.

He said Vietnam hopes that more RoK businesses will invest in thecountry in the time ahead, especially in the processing andmanufacturing industries, infrastructure, energy and services.

Highlighting the similarities shared by the two countries in economicdevelopment, as well as cultural and spiritual life, RoK Ambassador toVietnam Jun Dae-joo said that his country will always support Vietnamand remain a key partner to the country.

The RoKhas nearly 3,400 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnamwith registered capital totalling 25.7 billion USD, ranking fourthamong 100 nations and territories investing in the country.

It is also Vietnam’s second largest official development assistance(ODA) sponsor, committing preferential loans worth around 1.2 billionUSD for the country in the 2012-2015 period.

Bilateral trade between the two nations rose to 20 billion USD in 2012 from 0.5 billion USD 20 years ago.

Both sides started Foreign Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with theaim of developing their trade ties and balancing two-wayimport-export./.