Speaking at the meeting, VSS General Director Manh briefed on the good bilateral cooperation based on the memorandum of cooperation signed in 2021. Accordingly, the two sides organized many online and offline conferences to share experience in operating customer service centers and applying information technology in implementing social insurance policies. NPS sponsored VSS officials to attend training courses in South Korea on public pension benefits. NPS also shared experience in implementing bilateral agreements on social insurance with VSS and the two sides actively coordinated to exchange and discuss the implementation of the Agreement on Social Insurance signed by the Government of Vietnam and the Government of South Korea in December 2021.

He emphasized that the signing of the Bilateral Agreement on Social Insurance was an urgent need to facilitate the movement of workers and to protect their rights to social insurance in Vietnam and South Korea. He hoped to continue to receive cooperation and support from NPS in sharing experience and training employees in areas where NPS has strengths such as pension fund investment, enforcement of bilateral agreements on social insurance, and IT application to pension management and implementation. At the same time, the two sides will exchange and discuss operating results and future cooperation between NPS and VSS and effectively implement the first bilateral agreement on social insurance between Vietnam and South Korea.

The Bilateral Agreement on Social Insurance is scheduled to take effect from January 2024. (Photo: VSS)

At the meeting, the NPS CEO said that the cooperation ties between VSS and NPS were formalized since the memorandum of cooperation on social security between VSS and NPS was signed in May 2017. At present, many cooperation activities with diverse content and rich forms have been closely implemented by the two agencies. VSS and NPS have also maintained regular cooperation and exchange information to prepare for the enforcement of the Agreement on Social Insurance signed by the Government of Vietnam and the Government of South Korea. To further deepen cooperation on social security between the two countries, in the coming time, he hoped that the two agencies will continue to have cooperation in staff training and capacity building for pension fund investment, carry out the bilateral agreement on social insurance, and develop social safety net participants.

On that basis, VSS and NPS focused on discussing and agreeing on their record handling processes, forms and draft minutes on implementation of administrative agreements.

To date, VSS and NPS have agreed on contents of the Administrative Agreement, which is expected to be signed by the two countries in South Korea in early December 2023. The bilateral agreement on social insurance is scheduled to take effect from January 2024.