Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) sought measures tostrengthen bilateral ties in a wide range of fields during the 18th Vietnam-Korea Economic Committee Meeting held online on November 17.

Themeeting was co-organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the RoK's Ministryof Foreign Affairs, and relevant agencies from the two countries.

DeputyMinister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong placed emphasis on thestrong development of Vietnam-RoK ties across fields, to the benefit of bothsides.

Echoing Phuong’s view, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs at the RoK Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lee Seong-ho said Vietnam and the RoK have cooperated fruitfully in areas such asindustry-energy, infrastructure-transport-construction, agriculture, consularaffairs-justice, finance-banking, science-technology,information-telecommunications, culture-sports-tourism, education, naturalresources, and the environment.

The RoK was Vietnam’s third-largest trade partner last year, after Chinaand the US, fourth-largest export market, and second-largest import source. Vietnamexported 19.7 billion USD worth of goods to the RoK and imported 47 billion USDworth.

Two-way trade stood at 47.5 billion USD in the first nine months of thisyear, down 5.1 percent year-on-year, of which export revenue was 14.5 billionUSD, down 2.1 percent, and import value 33 billion USD, down 6.5 percent.

Many at the meeting proposed that the RoK help Vietnamese agriculturalproducts and food penetrate into the country, thus raising bilateral trade to100 billion USD, and that the RoK end its imposition of anti-dumping duties onVietnamese plywood.

As of October, the RoK had some 8,900 valid projects in Vietnam, valuedat about 70.4 billion USD, ranking it first in terms of both project numbers andregistered capital.

RoK firms contributed about 30 percent of Vietnam’s export value in the firstnine months.

Vietnam, meanwhile, has invested in 49 projects worth 35.24 million USDin the RoK, primarily in science-technology, mining, and processing andmanufacturing.

The RoK Government has asked local firms to consider investing inVietnam, especially in fields the Southeast Asian country has prioritised, suchas high-tech, electronics, renewable energy, infrastructure, high-qualityagriculture, healthcare, biology, and tourism.

Vietnam has remained the RoK’s priority development aid recipient, with about20 percent of the total to date./.