In the field of industry, Vietnam imports materials for producing for-exportgoods while ships electronics, textiles and footwear to the RoK.
Regarding investment, the RoK is currently the largest investor in Vietnam withabout 5,600 projects worth 50 billion USD across 52 provinces and cities,whilst Vietnam is the RoK’s third largest economic partner. RoK firm suchLotte, CJ, Samsung, and Daewoo are companies that have effective operation inVietnam now.
Kim Inho, Chairman of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said theVietnamese Government’s investment attraction policies have helped bring developmentopportunities to foreign businesses, including those from the RoK.
Vietnam’s stable economic growth lays a solid foundation for RoK firms toexpand investment in Vietnam.
The Vietnam-RoK Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in late 2015, hasushered in a new stage in the trade ties between the two countries, creating impetusto a greater investment flow from the RoK into Vietnam in the coming time.
According to Nguyen Hong Son from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, two-waytrade between Vietnam and the RoK recorded annual average growth of 19 percentin the last ten years.
RoK firms are investing in 18 different fields in Vietnam, with high-technologyand service being the main sectors, contributing to the change of the economicstructure of Vietnam.
Vietnam is calling for the RoK’s investment in the agro-forestry-aquaculturesector, which is hoped to create a new cooperation field between the twonations’ enterprises in the near future.
Notably, trade relationship between the two countries’ localities, especiallybig cities, has been intensified in recent years.
Park Noh Wan, RoK Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City affirmed Vietnam is theleading destination for RoK firms’ business and HCM City is the RoK’s mostpotential consumption market in Vietnam.
RoK companies are seeking to invest in agriculture and farm produce processing inVietnam, adding that local-level trade promotion events will help the twocountries’ businesses to establish partnership and sign specific agreements.
Deagu is the first RoK locality has signed a comprehensive cooperationagreement with HCM City, paving the way for strong economic exchange betweenthe two cities, towards expanding their trade turnover in the coming time.
With the role as a key economic hub of Vietnam, HCM City has been giving andwill offer more preferential policies to, improve the legal framework andcreate favourable conditions for RoK enterprises in particular and foreign ingeneral to invest in the locality.
The RoK ranked fourth among foreign investors in HCM City with approximate 1,300project worth 4.3 billion USD.-VNA