Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has called on ASEAN and the Republic of Korea (RoK) to strengthen mutual confidence and build a foundation for sustainable development to boost bilateral trade and investment.

He said the two parties should also make greater efforts to narrow gaps in development, speed up the execution of signed agreements, and work toward new ones while removing barriers to mutual development.

Dung highlighted ASEAN efforts to set up an economic community by 2015, where commodities and services are freely circulated, and capital flow moves with less restraint.

“Along with the ASEAN-RoK free trade area, the prospect for trade and investment between the two areas will certainly undergo great changes that require businesses from the two sides to boost cooperation,” said Dung.

Dung also took the opportunity to brief the forum on the success made by RoK businesses in Vietnam, praising them as a leading economic partner in the country as two-way trade revenues reached almost US$9 billion last year, an increase of over 34 percent year-on-year.

Later, during a talk with the RoK and Vietnamese businesses, Dung said that Vietnam has maintained its high economic growth thanks in large part to foreign investment as the FDI sector contributed 15 percent of the country’s GDP and 30 percent of industrial production value.

“The Vietnamese government will give special priority to foreign investors in the agricultural and rural development sector, and encourage RoK businesses to invest in agricultural machine manufacturing, infrastructure and heavy industry,” Dung said.

He affirmed that the government will instruct ministries, agencies and localities to join forces with RoK businesses in tackling land clearance, tax and infrastructure issues in an effort to help RoK businesses operate effectively in Vietnam.

Source: VNA