Vietnam, S.Korea aim for $150bn trade by 2030

The commitment was made during a phone call on Tuesday between Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung and his South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun, who discussed measures to further advance the Vietnam-South Korea comprehensive strategic partnership.

The two ministers welcomed the strong development of bilateral relations, particularly following the state visit to South Korea by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam in August 2025, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

They agreed to further strengthen political trust and mutual understanding while seeking breakthroughs in economic cooperation.

Both sides pledged to work toward raising bilateral trade to $150 billion by 2030 in a more balanced manner.

According to the Department of Vietnam Customs, bilateral trade between Vietnam and South Korea reached $89.49 billion in 2025, up 9.74 percent from the previous year.

However, Vietnam’s trade deficit with South Korea remained significant, widening to about $31.6 billion in 2025 from $30.31 billion in 2024.

South Korea was Vietnam’s fourth-largest export market last year, accounting for 6.09 percent of the country’s total export value.

The two sides also discussed measures to facilitate Vietnamese exports to the South Korean market.

Beyond trade, both sides agreed to encourage South Korean companies to expand investment in Vietnam, particularly in high tech industries, renewable energy, smart cities, and environmentally friendly and less labor-intensive sectors.

Science and technology cooperation was highlighted as a new pillar of the bilateral relationship.

The two countries agreed to accelerate the second phase of the Vietnam-Korea Institute of Science and Technology project.

They also pledged to share experience in policy and strategy development, promote digital innovation, and strengthen cooperation in training high quality human resources.

The two sides will also expand collaboration in culture, tourism, labor, and locality-to-locality exchanges to further strengthen friendship and mutual understanding between their peoples.

During the call, Trung also briefed his counterpart on the outcomes of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the country’s new development goals.

He said Vietnam aims to become a developing country with modern industry and upper middle-income status by 2030 and a developed, high-income nation by 2045.

To achieve these goals, Vietnam will continue shifting its growth model toward science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation, with participation from all economic sectors.

The country will improve the efficiency of the state sector while promoting the private sector as a key driver of economic growth, he said.

International economic integration, including foreign investment, will remain an important engine of Vietnam’s development in the coming years.

On multilateral cooperation, the two ministers agreed to maintain close coordination and mutual support on regional and international issues.

They also discussed exploring ways to cooperate in addressing increasingly complex global and regional developments, including efforts to maintain stable supply chains.

Both sides agreed to closely coordinate to promote the Mekong–South Korea Summit in 2026 and to support Vietnam in hosting the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Phu Quoc Special Zone, An Giang Province in 2027.