General Secretary, President To Lam holds summit meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung

General Secretary and President To Lam warmly welcomed President Lee to Ha Noi, saying Lee is the first foreign leader to visit Viet Nam after the Southeast Asian nation elects new leadership team.

He stressed that President Lee's ongoing four-day visit to Viet Nam is a vivid example for the close and effective relations between Viet Nam and South Korea, and it also reflects the high level of political trust between the two countries.

To expressed his strong belief that South Korea will continue to reap greater accomplishments in its national development course, thus contributing to peace and prosperity in the region and the world.

Lee, for his side, expressed his pleasure to visit Viet Nam again, and congratulated General Secretary To Lam upon his election as President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.

The Korean President expressed his belief that Viet Nam will continue to gain greater socio-economic achievements under the leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, headed by General Secretary and President To Lam.

Describing the bilateral ties as "special" and "close" relationship, Le affirmed that South Korea will still remain a reliable partner accompanying Viet Nam in realizing its goal to become a high-income, developed country by 2045.

Moving forward, the two leaders agreed to strengthen political trust and elevate strategic cooperation to new heights; effectively implement the existing cooperation mechanisms and agreements; expand substantive cooperation to key fields such as diplomacy, national defense and security; and coordinate in resolving non-traditional security challenges and transnational crime.

Both sides underscored the need for a strategic vision for economic connectivity in the new context, striving for realizing the trade goal of US$150 billion by the end of this decade.

The two sides committed to continuing trade facilitation and market opening for each other's exports; supporting Vietnamese businesses to participate in South Korea's supply chain.

To Lam highly valued Korean businesses' contributions to Viet Nam's socio-economic development process, welcoming them to further expand investments in such priority areas as infrastructure, smart urban developent, semiconductors, large-scale AI data centers, smart and new-generation port development.

To Lam also called on the two countries to foster collaboration in technology research and transfer, and suggested South Korea continue support for Viet Nam in implementing the Viet Nam-Korea Institute of Science and Technology (VKIST) project.

The two leaders shared the same view that expanding cooperation in culture, education, and people-to-people exchanges would consolidate the foundation for sustainable and long-term development of the bilateral ties.

General Secretary and President To Lam sugggested South Korea proactively assist Viet Nam in developing cultural and entertainment industry and share its experience in tourism promotion with Viet Nam.

To Lam promised to cooperate with South Korea in fruitfully deploying the ASEAN-Korea Action Plan for 2026-2030 period, coordinate with Mekong countries to promote the organization of the Mekong-South Korea Summit in 2026, thereby promoting economic connectivity and formulation of new resilient and sustainable value chains.

The two leaderes also shared the common strategic vision on maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea, ensuring the legitimate rights and interests in line with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982). Both sides underscored the importance of promoting peace on the Korean peninsula.

Following their summit meeting, the two leaders witnessed the exchange of 12 cooperation agreements between the two countries./.