Gyeonggi Province Expands Exchange and Cooperation with Vietnam... Kim Dong-yeon "Long-standing Ties with Vietnam"

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon (second from left) warmly shakes hands with Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of Vietnam (third from left), on the 6th. Photo by Gyeonggi Provincial Government

[Asia Economy (Gwangju) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is promoting the expansion of exchange and cooperation with Vietnam.

On the 7th, Gyeonggi Province announced that Governor Kim Dong-yeon met with Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of Vietnam, on the 6th to discuss ways to revitalize exchange and cooperation between Gyeonggi Province and Vietnam.

At the meeting with the Vietnamese President, Governor Kim said, "When President Moon Jae-in made a state visit to Vietnam in 2018, I accompanied him as Deputy Prime Minister and had the opportunity to meet President Phuc. At that time, he was Prime Minister, and now he has become President, and I have become Governor of Gyeonggi Province. I am truly very pleased and delighted to meet again," expressing his joy at the reunion.

He continued, "I have maintained continuous ties with Vietnam both when I worked at the World Bank and when I was a university president," introducing his long-standing connection with Vietnam, and added, "Vietnam has dynamism and potential, and I believe it will achieve great development not only in Southeast Asia but also globally."

He further stated, "In all aspects including trade, investment, human exchange, and tourism, Gyeonggi Province will take the lead in promoting relations between Korea and Vietnam and strive to play a comprehensive and strategic partner role," emphasizing, "There are as many as 38,000 Vietnamese people living in Gyeonggi Province alone, and they play an important economic and social role."

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc responded, "Gyeonggi Province is an important political, social, and cultural center of Korea, and especially has strengths in information technology (IT) and advanced technology fields, which left a very good impression on me," and added, "I believe that Gyeonggi Province will continue to develop through the relentless efforts of local governments and residents and create new miracles together with the Republic of Korea."

Marking the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Vietnam, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who visited Korea as a state guest, met with President Yoon Suk-yeol the day before and met Governor Kim on this day.

President Phuc visited multicultural families in Gwangju City to encourage them and then watched traditional and fusion performances of Korea and Vietnam.

On the occasion of this state visit, the relationship between the Republic of Korea and Vietnam was elevated from a "strategic cooperative partnership" to a "comprehensive strategic partnership." Vietnam is Korea's fourth-largest trading partner following China, the United States, and Japan, and Korea is Vietnam's third-largest trading partner following China and the United States. Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1992, the trade volume between the two countries exceeded $80 billion last year, increasing 160 times.

Gyeonggi Province has established friendly cooperation relationships with Nghe An Province (2009) and Ho Chi Minh City (2018) in Vietnam.