The agreement was reached during talks in Hanoi on October 21 between State President Nguyen Minh Triet and his RoK counterpart Lee Myung-bak who arrived in Hanoi a day earlier for an official visit.

The two leaders expressed their pleasure at the rapid development of the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and the RoK within the framework of a “comprehensive partnership in the 21^st century”.

They agreed to increase the exchange of reciprocal visits at all levels and set up a mechanism for strategic dialogues at the foreign ministerial level to bring bilateral ties to new plain.

They said that Vietnam and the RoK should expand cooperation in economics, trade, investment, science-technology, the environment, culture and education. They agreed to improve two-way trade balance, increase their trade to US$20 billion by 2015, and upgrade the Red River City project to the national-level one.

Mr Triet thanked Mr Lee and the RoK government for recognising Vietnam’s market economy status and for considering it as the RoK’s key partner for cooperation and development.

Both host and guest expressed satisfaction with the close cooperation between their countries in international organisations and forums such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), as well as at regional forums such as ASEAN-the RoK, ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and the RoK), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the East Asia Summit (EAS).    

Mr Triet praised the RoK’s increasing role at international forums and congratulated the Northeast Asian nation on hosting the G-20 summit in 2010. He affirmed that Vietnam will work closely with the RoK to successfully organise a summit on aid effectiveness in 2011 and an international exposition to be held in Yeosu city, the RoK, in 2012. 

For his part, Mr Lee acknowledged Vietnam’s constructive contributions to maintaining global peace and stability in its capacity as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. He highlighted the country’s role in Southeast Asia and vowed that the RoK will cooperate closely with Vietnam to help the latter fulfil its role as the ASEAN President and organise the East Asia economic forum in 2010.

He also affirmed that the RoK will work closely with Vietnam to organise a grand meeting to mark Hanoi’s 1,000^th anniversary in 2010.

Mr Triet reiterated Vietnam’s consistent policy of supporting peace, stability, dialogue and cooperation on the Korean peninsula, and welcomed the RoK’s efforts to settle the nuclear issues on the Korean peninsula through peaceful negotiations.

The two State leaders called on the concerned parties to resume dialogues and strictly adhere to commitments to denuclearise the peninsula.

Mr Lee invited Mr Triet to visit the RoK at a convenient time, and the invitation was accepted with pleasure.

In the evening, Mr Triet gave a banquet in honour of Mr Lee and his entourage.