Highlighting elevated ties between Korea, Vietnam

Herald Corp., publisher of The Korea Herald and Herald Business, will co-host a forum on Friday to shed light on how the elevated bilateral relationship engenders new opportunities between the provinces of South Korea and Vietnam.

Also coming into focus are the higher standards of living in Vietnam in tandem with the nation's fast economic growth, a burgeoning manufacturing hub in the fourth-largest economy in Southeast Asia, Korea's evolving food technologies that are coming to Vietnam, as well as opportunities for Korean financiers to invest in Vietnam.

These are among the agenda items for the Korea-Vietnam Economic Cooperation Forum 2022, "Great Together, Next Prosperity 100!" The in-person event will take place at InterContinental Hanoi Landmark72, jointly hosted by the Korea International Trade Association, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Korea-Vietnam Friendship Association.

The event will delve deep into the two countries' shared prosperity at the provincial level.

Ngo Dong Hai, secretary of the Thai Binh Provincial Party Committee, is poised to propose plans for the interprovincial cooperation between the two countries. Thai Binh Province, located in northern Vietnam, has hosted 26 projects of Korean investors with total capital of $128 million as of September.

At the event, North Chungcheong Province Gov. Kim Young-hwan will present to audiences its nature-based tourism development project involving lakes such as Chungjuho Lake and Daecheongho Lake, under a plan dubbed "Lake Park Renaissance." North Chungcheong Province is an inland region home to biotechnology, electronics and food manufacturing.

North Gyeongsang Province Gov. Lee Cheol-woo will talk about its push to set up a cultural hub for Hallyu fans, mainly by taking advantage of metaverse technologies. With the plan unveiled in October, Lee has sought to refurbish the region long perceived as home to industrial manufacturing hub and historic sites.

During the forum, Myongji Hospital, a medical center based in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, will sign a memorandum of understanding with Thai Binh Province's health department over the healthcare system establishment and clinical exchange of medical staff.

This event comes as the two nations recently elevated their ties to the highest level as their bilateral trade ties marked its 30th year.

Earlier in Dec. 5, the bilateral summit between President Yoon Suk-yeol and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc led to a decision to upgrade their relations to "comprehensive strategic partnership," making Korea the fourth trade partner of Vietnam to do so following China, Russia and India.

Korea's trade volume with Vietnam rose over 160-fold in the past three decades to $80.7 billion as of 2021.

Such a growing partnership indicates more room for joint prosperity with some 8,000 Korean enterprises in Vietnam, around 200,000 Koreans living in Vietnam as well as around 200,000 Vietnamese in Korea, according to Ko Sang-goo, organizer of the forum and known for the Vietnam-based, Korea-themed supermarket chain K-Market.

The trust built over decades bodes well for the two nation's joint prosperity for centuries, said The Korea Herald Chief Executive Officer Choi Jin-young.