Trade between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) has witnessed a strong growth over the past time, with tremendous room noticed for future development of the ties. President Nguyen Xuan Phuc's ongoing visit to the East Asian nation from December 4-6 is expected to open a new phase in countries’ relations, bringing bilateral cooperation to a new height.

Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1992, the bilateral trade turnover has increased by 162 times, from 480 million USD in 1992 to 78 billion USD in 2021. The value is projected to hit 90 billion USD this year and exceed 100 billion USD in 2023.

The RoK is Vietnam's third biggest trade partner, while Vietnam is the RoK’s largest trade partner in ASEAN.

Commenting on the trade relationship, a representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Asia-Africa Market Department said that the export structure of the two countries is complementary. The RoK is a market with a rich purchasing power, so the room for Vietnamese exports to the country is large.

Moreover, the East Asian nation is one of the few countries that has signed many bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with Vietnam, such as the ASEAN-RoK FTA; Vietnam – RoK FTA (VKFTA); and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The nations’ two-way trade was more than doubled last year compared to 2015, when they signed the VKFTA. In which, Vietnam's exports to the RoK in 2021 reeled in 21.9 billion USD, 2.4 times higher than the 8.9 billion USD posted in 2015.

This year, the Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) Hanoi plans to organise 75-80 business matching events to create cooperation opportunities for 1,300 Korean enterprises and more than 1,200 Vietnamese enterprises, serving the countries’ target of 100 billion USD in bilateral trade.

Head of KOTRA Hanoi’s office Tran Thi Hai Yen said it has so far run 58 events, linking 850 Korean businesses to nearly 900 Vietnamese importers./.