President Lee Jae Myung (right) and Vietnam's top leader To Lam on Aug. 11 pose for a photo at their bilateral summit held by the Office of the President in Seoul. (Office of the President)

By Lee Jihae

Korea and Vietnam have pledged to raise bilateral trade to USD 150 billion (KRW 208 trillion) by 2030 and boost cooperation in infrastructure such as nuclear power plants and high-speed rail and supply chains for core minerals.

President Lee Jae Myung and Vietnam's top leader To Lam, who is general secretary of his country's Communist Party, on Aug. 11 agreed on this at their bilateral summit held at the Office of the President in Seoul. They adopted a joint statement on reinforcing the comprehensive strategic partnership between both countries.

General Secretary Lam is the first foreign leader to visit Korea since the launch of the Lee administration.

In a joint statement released after the summit, President Lee said, "To mark the 10th anniversary of the effectuation of their bilateral free trade agreement, the two countries agreed to boost efforts to achieve the goal of bilateral trade volume worth USD 150 billion by 2030."

Both sides pledged to bolster cooperation in nuclear power, high-speed rail and new city development.

"We mentioned that Vietnam's large-scale national projects such as construction of nuclear plants and the north-south high-speed rail are crucial for setting up a stable electricity supply and modernized transportation and logistics system," President Lee said. "To this, General Secretary Lam said he is well aware of the excellent technical capacity of Korean companies and that he will actively review Korea's participation."

"The two countries agreed to further boost cooperation in core minerals by combining Vietnam's abundant resources of rare earth elements with Korean technology," the president added. "Centered on a bilateral center for core mineral supply chains, we will from this year seek ways of cooperation in the supply, processing and use of such minerals."

The two countries also agreed to higher collaboration in diplomacy, security and national defense.

"We agreed that high-level exchanges are paramount to raising bilateral understanding and political trust," he said. "We decided to actively continue high-level exchanges this year through meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)."

The two leaders agreed to work together to ensure Korea's successful hosting of the APEC Summit in October in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, and the 2027 edition of the event on the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc.

jihlee08@korea.kr