Nhan Dan- President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Park Geun-hye provided Nhan Dan (People) newspaper an interview on her official state visit to Vietnam at the invitation of State President Truong Tan Sang.
Q: Would you please tell us the aim and significance of your official visit to Vietnam?
A: Vietnam and the RoK celebrated their 20th anniversary since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations last year and have made remarkable accomplishments over the past time.
The purpose of my visit to Vietnam is to boost the qualitative co-operation between the two countries and set the stage for further development over the next 20 years.
To realise this, I am having talks with President Truong Tan Sang and hope to sign a Joint Statement with the aim of sharing a mutual vision towards the next 20 year period.
I have always attached great importance to the fine traditional friendship with Vietnam- the RoK’s largest economic co-operation partner in Southeast Asia and want to extend a hand of friendship for the next 20 years.
Therefore, I chose Vietnam as the first country to visit during my trip to ASEAN countries and pledge to use my best efforts to bring the co-operation relations with Vietnam to a new height.
Furthermore, the RoK government’s goal is to enhance economic co-operation with ASEAN bloc countries to make this developing block into an emerging economic power, strengthen co-operative relations with Vietnam, now considered as the centre of ASEAN, and expand relations with ASEAN nations.
To reach mutually beneficial prosperity, in the coming time, I would like to see the two countries expand and deepen economic co-operation in areas such as nuclear power, industrial technology, climate change, energy, environment, information and communication and consolidate the diplomatic relations in the regional and international arena.
Q: What is your evaluation on the development of relations between the two countries over the past years since Vietnam and RoK first established diplomatic ties in 1992?
A: Twenty years is a rather short time, however the two countries have actually made great strides in terms of development. Over the past 20 years, two way trade increased 44 times, investment 250 times, human resources exchange 80 times, and Vietnam has become the RoK’s largest ODA recipient.
Over 100,000 Vietnamese people and the same number of RoK people are residing in each other’s country and 1,800 RoK businesses and 500,000 Vietnamese workers are working hard in their production.
Thirteen universities in Vietnam have a Korean language faculty with enrollment of 2,500 students.
More importantly, 50,000 couples of the two countries have become life partners. Now, Vietnam and the RoK are advancing beyond the friendship to be a family like one.
The RoK government hopes to further accelerate Vietnam- RoK relations in the future based on developing the foundation that has been laid.
Q: What do you think about the prospect of the strategic co-operation partnership between Vietnam and the RoK?
A: On this Vietnam visit, I hope the two countries relationship continues to evolve the “strategic co-operation partnership” established in 2009 in a deeper manner and reach consensus on key points for mutual prosperity during the next 20 years.
From the accomplishment of the past time, the RoK government will work tirelessly to expand the strategic co-operation scale and those mutual benefits to new development fields such as environment and climate change, science and technology, energy security, information and communication and biology technology in a bid to deepen the sustainable development growth partnership.
Vietnamand the RoK are welcoming the coming “Age of Asia” and hope for further bilateral co-operation in the international arena.
It’s my strongest desire that the two countries develop the close partnership and together resolve issues that stand in the way of peace and prosperity in Asia and the international community
Đăng ký: VietNam News
