Hanoi (VNA) – PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has highly valued cooperative relations betweenVietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK), as well as between the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the RoK.

“Vietnam considers the RoK a leadingimportant partner in all spheres, while the RoK has regarded Vietnam as a keypartner in its New Southern Policy,” PM Phuc said on the occasion of his tripto the RoK to attend the ASEAN-RoK Commemorative Summit and the firstMekong-RoK Summit whilst paying an official visit to the country.

Vietnam and the RoK set up diplomaticties in 1992, and the two countries upgraded the relationship to the level of “comprehensivepartnership in the 21st century” in 2002 before lifting to astrategic cooperative partnership in 2009.

As well as economic links,people-to-people exchanges and collaboration in national defence and security,culture, education, sports and tourism have developed robustly, PM Phuc said.

He added that the RoK has always takenthe lead in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam and ranked second in provisionof official development assistance (ODA) and third in trade and tourismcooperation with the country.

Vietnam is also the RoK’s fourth largesttrading partner with two-way trade expected to hit 67 billion USD this year,making up 40 percent of total trade revenue between the ASEAN and the RoK.

During a State visit to Vietnam byPresident Moon Jae-in in March 2018, the two countries agreed to promote tradecooperation in an equal and sustainable manner, aiming to raise the bilateraltrade to 100 billion USD in 2020.

“Vietnam wants to further expand anddeepen its strategic cooperative partnership with the RoK in all spheres,effectively implementing cooperation and dialogue mechanisms for diplomacy,national defence and security, and economy, thus benefitting people from bothsides,” he affirmed.

The leader also noted with achievementsmade in ASEAN-RoK relations over the past 30 years, especially since 2010 whenthe two sides elevated their relationship to a strategic partnership.

PM Phuc said since 2014, the two sideshave realised the “joint declaration on future vision of strategic partnership:building trust, bringing happiness,” adding that they have closely coordinatedon regional and global issues.

The RoK is an important partner for the ASEANand has actively participated in forums led and established by the groupingsuch as the East-Asia Summit (EAS), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and theASEAN Plus Three.

Trade between the ten-member group andthe RoK increased from 10.3 billion USD in 1990 to 160 billion USD last year,he said.

The leader emphasised that both the ASEANand the RoK are striving to implement the 2016-2020 action plan with variousactivities and projects. The ASEAN has received active support from the EastAsian country in building the ASEAN Community, especially after President Moonannounced the New Southern Policy and the 3P (people, peace, prosperity)initiative.

Vietnam has selected “Cohesive andResponsive” as the theme of the ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020,  with a focus on enhancing intra-blocsolidarity and promoting the role and contributions of the bloc to maintainingpeace, security and stability in the region; and taking the lead in coping withexternal challenges and settling regional and international issues.

As the ASEAN Chair, Vietnam willcontinue to carry forward its role and constructively contribute to ensuringpeace, stability and security in the region and the world, including the KoreanPeninsula, PM Phuc said.

He reiterated that the consistent stanceof Vietnam and the ASEAN is supporting the complete denuclearisation of theKorean Peninsula and calling for relevant sides to maintain dialogue and fullyimplement reached agreements towards long-term and sustainable peace on thepeninsula.

“Vietnam and other ASEAN members call onthe RoK to cooperate in preserving peace with respect for international law andthe 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, ensuring security,safety and freedom of aviation and navigation in the East Sea,” he said./.