The Republic of Korea (RoK) attaches great importance to developing friendly and cooperative ties with Vietnam, President Lee Myung-Bak told Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in a meeting in Seoul Saturday.

For his part, Dung confirmed that Vietnam considers the RoK one of its top trading partners.

He said that both countries should make a greater effort to promote cooperation in politics, economics, diplomacy, security, national defense, culture, education and environmental protection.

He proposed that Lee consider providing more official development assistance to Vietnam and creating favorable conditions for the Southeast Asian nation to increase its exports to the RoK to balance two-way trade.

Both host and guest expressed their pleasure at the rapid development of the friendship and cooperative ties between Vietnam and the RoK. They agreed that the two countries should boost bilateral cooperation in all fields to lift their mutually beneficial relationship to new heights.

Dung reiterated Vietnam’s consistent policy of supporting a nuclear free zone on the Korean peninsula and denounced nuclear tests and the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the region. He said Vietnam supports the settlement of the Korean nuclear issues through dialogue and peaceful negotiations.

On the same day, Dung, who is in Seoul for a RoK-ASEAN Commemorative summit, met with RoK National Assembly speaker Kim Hyong-O.

Dung expressed his hope that the speaker and other RoK legislators would further contribute to strengthening the friendly and cooperative ties between the two countries.

Speaker Kim affirmed that the RoK wants to foster ties with Vietnam and its National Assembly.

Source: VOV