NEWS 4 TODAY-------------
Vietnamese, South Korea legislative leaders meet
(22-03-2008)
Republic of Korea NA Speaker Lim Chae Jung welcomed Vietnamese NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong in Seoul yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Tri Dung
SEOUL — Viet Nam’s development has remained slow despite its socio-economic achievements over the past years, said National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong.
Therefore, Viet Nam was determined to realise its modernisation and industrialisation goals to become a developed industrial nation by 2020, Trong said in his talks with the Republic of Korea’s (RoK) National Assembly Speaker, Lim Chae Jung, in Seoul yesterday.
In order to reach these goals, Viet Nam would need support from its international friends, the RoK would be an important partner in Viet Nam’s economic development, Trong said.
Receiving the Vietnamese NA’s delegation on its official friendship visit to the RoK, Speaker Lim Chae Jung said he was pleased by the fruitful development of RoK-Viet Nam relations since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1992.
Jung said that relations had been well-developed not only in politics, but in economic, cultural and social fields as well.
Chairman Trong said that he believed the visit would be highly successful in boosting friendship and multifaceted co-operation between the two legislative bodies.
Chairman Trong said during the talks that the Vietnamese people, who had suffered through the north-south division, empathised with Koreans’ desires for peace and reunification in the Korean peninsula, and supported all efforts to do so.
Yesterday afternoon, Trong and other NA delegates attended a business forum held by Korean and Vietnamese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Trong said that Viet Nam-Korea economic ties had a sound and solid political and cultural foundation, and that he hoped the forum would facilitate businesses from both countries seeking investment and co-operation opportunities.
He said that Viet Nam had a strong determination to reform, integrate and improve its investment environment. The country wanted to attract stronger, more effective and higher-quality investments from South Korea.
Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Shon Kyung Sick, along with Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Yoon Ho, both said Korea had a special interest in Viet Nam as a business partner with great potential.
They witnessed the signing of four bilateral co-operation packages worth US$1.15 billion. These included a $600-million package between Korea’s IDEA Company and Viet Nam’s Sai Gon Investment Corporation to develop a new urban area in HCM City, and a $300-million document between Daewoo Capital and Viet Nam Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.
Also yesterday afternoon, NA Chairman Trong received Kaengnam Corporation president Woan Jong Sung, investor of the $800-million Kaengnam Ha Noi Landmark Tower construction project.
Trong said that he hoped the Kaengnam president would do his best to complete the tower in time for Ha Noi’s 1000th anniversary in 2010, but more importantly, that the project would be of high quality, good design and deserving as a symbol of friendship between Ha Noi and Seoul.
Receiving another guest, Daewoo Capital president Dong Rhim Lee, Trong said that he hoped the corporation would share its experiences and assist Viet Nam in further training its finance and banking personnel. — VNS
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