The Republic of Korea will donate 1.1 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Viet Nam, which are scheduled to arrive in the country on October 13.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) receives the Republic of Korea's Ambassador
to Viet Nam Park Noh Wan, Ha Noi, October 12, 2021 - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Korean Ambassador to Viet Nam Park Noh Wan made the announcement at his meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on October 12.

This is the largest-ever vaccine donation that the Republic of Korea has offered to a partner country, the Ambassador emphasized. 

At the meeting, the Vietnamese Prime Minister affirmed that Viet Nam always attaches importance to the strategic cooperative partnership with the Republic of Korea, and is willing to closely coordinate with the Northeast Asian country to promote the role of the existing cooperation mechanism to further advance the bilateral ties. 

He suggested the two nations continue high-level delegation exchanges and contacts in flexible forms as well as people-to-people exchanges in order to consolidate mutual trust and understanding.

The Government chief thanked the Korean Government and businesses for having support Viet Nam in the COVID-19 fight, hoping that the Republic of Korea would continue providing vaccine and drug support to and assisting Viet Nam in developing pharmacy industry and improving healthcare capacity.

Pham called on both sides to encourage Korean enterprises, especially business giants to pour more investments in Viet Nam and work together to soon resume commercial flights and mutually recognize “vaccine passports” to contribute to stabilizing supply chain. 

For his part, Ambassador Park asserted that Viet Nam is one of his country’s top economic partners, adding that the bilateral trade picked up 18 percent despite complex development of COVID-19 while Korean investment flows into Viet Nam rose 24 percent compared to the same period last year.

The Republic of Korea expects to upgrade the relationship between the two countries to a new height on the occasion of the 30th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties, underscored the diplomat.