1. The 14th meeting of the Republic of Korea-Vietnam Joint Economic Committee took place in Seoul on July 14, with Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Lee Tae-ho of the ROK Foreign Ministry and Deputy Minister Nguyen Chi Dung of the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment leading their respective delegations.

* The ROK delegation to the meeting included officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Financial Services Commission, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Korea Forest Service and the Embassy in Vietnam. The Vietnamese side consisted of officials from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Government Office, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the State Bank of Vietnam and the Embassy in the ROK.

2. In the meeting, the two sides took note of the rapid advances in their bilateral economic cooperation, including the over 60-fold increase in their annual trade volume since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992. They voiced expectation that the bilateral FTA, when brought into force, will contribute greatly to the attainment of their goal of recording 70 billion US dollars in two-way trade by 2020 as agreed by their leaders in September 2013.

* The two-way trade volume, which stood at 493 million US dollars in 1992, reached 30.3 billion US dollars in 2014, an approximately 61-fold increase from 1992.
- At the bilateral summit talks in September 2013, the two countries set the goal of recording 70 billion US dollars in trade by 2020.
- The ROK-Vietnam FTA, concluded in December 2014 and formally signed in May 2015, is currently undergoing a procedure to win the National Assembly’s approval for ratification.

◦ In particular, the two sides noted with satisfaction that the bilateral FTA formally signed on May 5, 2015, served as a turning point for boosting not only merchandise trade but also services and investment between the two countries. They agreed to expedite their respective domestic procedures toward an early entry of the FTA into force.

3. The two sides exchanged wide-ranging and in-depth views on ways to work together bilaterally in such economy-related fields as industry, employment, labor, development and consular matters, as well as on regional and other multilateral stages.

◦ The ROK delegation brought attention to the fact that the ROK has become the largest investor in Vietnam -- its combined investment reached 37.2 billion dollars as of 2014 -- and that its investment in the country is focused on high value-added sectors in a qualitative shift from the past. In that regard, the ROK side asked that the Vietnamese government help further boost investment in the country by improving its investment and business environment for Korean companies operating in the country.

◦ With regard to the sectors of transportation, infrastructure and energy, the ROK side positively assessed the progress in cooperation in those sectors, requesting that the Vietnamese government support bids of Korean companies to expand their presence in such large-scale infrastructure projects as those involving high-speed trains, subways, highways and thermoelectric and nuclear power plants, as well as in the financial market of Vietnam.

◦ The Vietnamese delegation mentioned that it will review the aforementioned matters and seek reasonable solutions to them. In addition, it asked the ROK government to make active efforts to rectify the bilateral trade imbalance; invite more Vietnamese workers to the ROK under its Employment Permit System for foreign workers; and streamline visa processing.

◦ The ROK and Vietnam, the ROK’s No.1 partner for official development assistance (ODA), took note of the successful development cooperation between them and agreed to share the ROK’s development experience in the course of Vietnam’s implementation of strategies for socio-economic development.

* The ROK’s ODA to Vietnam reached 1.04 billion US dollars in 1987-2013 -- 280 million dollars in grants and 760 million dollars in loans; 240 million US dollars in 2013; and a tentatively estimated 190 million US dollars in 2014.

◦ The two sides agreed to further strengthen their ongoing close cooperation on regional and other multilateral stages, including APEC and the ROK-ASEAN and ROK-Mekong cooperative mechanisms.

4. The July 14 meeting is seen to have served as an opportunity to reaffirm the progress in economic cooperation between the ROK and Vietnam, whose bilateral strategic cooperative partnership has further matured on the back of the conclusion of their FTA; and to comprehensively review and seek ways to resolve the full range of pending bilateral issues.

◦ In particular, the meeting carries significance in that the ROK government won understanding and support from the Vietnamese government in terms of resolving challenges facing Korean enterprises operating in Vietnam and helping Korean companies expand their presence in the Vietnamese sectors of energy, infrastructure, finance and construction.


* unofficial translation