They made the plea at a meeting on Friday between the government’s Advisory Council for Administrative Reform and South Korean businesses in Vietnam.

So far 4,300 South Korean experts have been granted permission to enter Vietnam for work since the pandemic began, and the figure would continue to rise, South Korean Ambassador Park Noh-wan said.

He called on the government to ease quarantine policies.

A representative of the Korea Chamber of Business in Vietnam (Korcham) said quarantining costs South Korean businesses money and time as people now have to do a two-week home quarantine in South Korea before flying out to Vietnam and two more weeks upon landing.

This makes it difficult for South Korean experts to come to Vietnam to work though they are needed for economic projects, he said.

Korcham therefore wants Vietnam to reduce the period of quarantine and consider exemptions in some cases like people coming for short-term work and for important tasks like investment and signing contracts, he said.

Vietnam would work closely with countries, including South Korea, to overcome difficulties amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Mai Tien Dung, Chairman of the Government Office, assured.

South Korea was the fifth biggest investor in Vietnam in the first half of the year with nearly $545 million of registered capital.

South Korean businesses have more than 8,000 projects, account for 30 percent of Vietnam’s total exports and provide more than 700,000 jobs.